New Moses Lake Town Center takes shape

Tiffany Sukola | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 11 years, 7 months AGO

Workers raise the roof over a new entrance at the old K-Mart building just off Stratford Road. Interior and exterior remodeling has been ongoing for the last few months.

MOSES LAKE - Crews are making progress at the former Kmart building off North Stratford Road.

Demolition work on the exterior of the 100,000 square-foot building began in August, according to a previous Columbia Basin Herald article. Crews have been working since then to carry out the ASPI Group's plan to turn the building into separate storefronts, Mike O'Halloran, of Russell Construction, said.

Crews removed the previous Kmart entrance, the garden center on the north side and the sidewalk that went around the building, he said.

They are currently working on the two large towers that will eventually carry the signs of whatever major "anchor" stores decide to move into the new Moses Lake Town Center, O'Halloran said.

There is currently space in between the two anchor stores for another retailer. However, that space could be tweaked to house two stores if needed, he said.

The interior of the building is already complete.

"It's ready for tenant improvements," he said.

O'Halloran said all crews have left to do is put the finishing touches on the building's exterior, which includes installing glass doors on the storefronts, putting stone veneers on the two towers and painting the entire building.

"In about a month we'll be done and it'll look like a finished product," he said. "It's going to look beautiful when we're done with it."

At that point, crews will begin working on the parking lot, O'Halloran said. Right now, they'll focus on concrete work and re-striping the spaces.

Once tenants are announced and begin moving in to the building, then islands will be put in and landscaping work will start, he said.

O'Halloran said three retailers have shown interest in the space, but no leases have been signed yet.

In August, the ASPI Group's Kim Foster said residents could see major retailers move in to the space as early as next spring. The development group was close to striking a deal with the two major anchors at the time and had received "letters of intent" from other companies hoping to occupy the space between them, he said at the time.