Plainfield mall owner kicks off $11.1M renovation

The owner of the Metropolis mall in Plainfield on Wednesday launched an $11.1 million renovation of the 10-year-old shopping center that includes a name change.

Memphis-based Poag Shopping Centers LLC anticipates the project will finish in October before the start of the holiday shopping season. Property Lines first reported on the project in January.

Among the improvements Poag plans to make include new signage and lighting, repaving parking lots, installing fountains, adding landscaping and painting certain buildings.

Meantime, the Metropolis name will be retired in favor of The Shops at Perry Crossing.

Poag will cover about half of the $9 million in mall repairs, with the remainder covered by tax-increment financing funds from the town of Plainfield.

Poag spent an additional $2.1 million to purchase seven acres of vacant land south of the mall at Perry Road and Metropolis Parkway to accommodate future expansion, said Bob Rogers, Poag’s chief operating officer.

Mall occupancy is about 85 percent.

“We think the property has great opportunities,” Rogers told Property Lines on Wednesday. “We see the center as a regional lifestyle center that would have a draw from Plainfield and outside of Plainfield.”

Poag and Plainfield town officials marked the start of the renovations with a ceremonial groundbreaking on Wednesday.

Affiliates of Poag and Blue Vista Capital Management LLC in Chicago bought the 68-acre outdoor mall out of receivership for an undisclosed price in December 2013.

Former Indianapolis-based development firm Premier Properties USA Inc. spent $160 million to develop the 600,200-square-foot center, which opened in October 2005.