CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — As rain came down Monday, sections of the more than 35-year-old Chesapeake Square Mall came crashing down as well.
Crews from Norfolk-based RC Demolition began the task of taking down former department store space at the 717,000-square-foot regional mall as part of a major redevelopment effort.
For nearly seven years, Virginia Beach-based Kotarides Development has been working to transform the 80-acre site from a languishing mall to a “destination.”
Plans call for a grocery store and sporting goods store to anchor new retail development on the sites of the former Burlington Coat Factory and JCPenney stores according to a flyer from Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer.
The one-time six-anchor mall currently has only two anchor tenants and roughly 30 retailers. Those businesses will remain open during construction according to mall management.
Chesapeake Square Mall initially opened in 1989 as one of roughly a dozen indoor shopping malls in Hampton Roads metro area.
Over the last decade, all but two have continually shed retailers as digital shopping has continued to take a bite out of the brick-and-mortar business and retail overdevelopment has been realized, according to analysts.
Kotarides bought the majority of the property for $12.9 million out of foreclosure proceedings in 2018. The company bought the Cinemark property for $3.5 million in 2023. Target continues to own its building and parking lot.
Kotarides wasn’t immediately available for comment Monday. However, company president Pete Kotarides had previously said he was eying a grocer for the space.
The demolition permit, filed with the city of Chesapeake last month, states the buildings will be taken “down to the concrete pads,” and the marketing flyer indicates the interior mall will remain standing from the food court to the Cinemark.
The demolition work comes as the city’s other mall property, Greenbrier Mall, was sold to Virginia Beach-based developer Sifen, Inc.
Both of Chesapeake’s malls are now locally owned.