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2001-02 archive
2002-03 school year

Photo/Erick Evans
Construction continues on the outside of Lane Avenue Shopping Center. Some stores remain open and have relocated during renovation, but many have closed until construction is complete. The storefront graphic above the story pictures the goal of the renovation.

Mall makeover
By Becky Shapiro

First Little Professor packed up. Then Banana Republic closed its doors. Gap left the building shortly after, leaving only an empty white space. As students moved up through school, they have watched Lane Avenue Shopping Center's spiraling decline from suburban shopping mecca to barren retail wasteland. Madison Marquette Realty Services is updating Lane Avenue Shopping Center in an attempt to rejuvenate the dying mall, shopping center general manager Susan Schaeff said.

"It is past time," she said. "[Lane Avenue] needs a fresh look, a new tenant mix and to be updated."

Plans for renovation began Sept. 1, 2001, Schaeff said. Madison Marquette completed background work and planning "before bricks started falling." Renovation plans include redoing the mall's front so stores open to the parking lot and adding a central courtyard in the style of Easton Shopping Center.

Schaeff said the new courtyard will change the shopping center dramatically, designed to house "specialty shops, one-of-a-kinds, open-air restaurants, and a place to stroll." Other changes include redistribution of parking spaces for better traffic flow and updated landscaping and architecture.

She said UA residents seem to support the renovation of the area and have offered suggestions and opinions.

"We've been getting a [positive] community response from day one," Schaeff said. "We like so much about the communityÑeveryone has opinions and stories [about Lane Avenue], and they're not afraid to tell us what they want or don't want because they know their voice is heard by us."

Sophomore Cathy Ulman, who lives two blocks from the shopping center, said she is looking forward to its renovation because the changes will greatly affect her shopping habits.

"I'm so excited," she said. "I'm sick of having nothing [at Lane Avenue], and they say they're going to have more stores and better stores. When I was little there used to be so muchÑI've lived here forever and used to go there every day after school."

Ulman said plans for the new outdoor food court interest her.

"It will be nice to be able to sit outside and eat," she said. "[I didn't like] the old food court É it was too closed in."

Senior Wes Milks lives on Lane Avenue and said he thinks the renovation will help the center in the long run.

"It will be better because it's more outdoor-oriented," he said. "I think that that's necessary to compete with the [shopping center] superpowers."

However, freshman Alex Paynter said he thinks renovation will not improve Lane Avenue Shopping Center.

"I think they should just tear the whole thing down," he said. "I don't think making it like a mini-Easton is going to get more people to go there."

Freshman Paige Saunders said she also believes the renovation will not help the center's business.

"There are so many new shopping malls that people go to," Saunders said. "They can just get the things they want out there."

However, Schaeff said she hopes to combat this by orienting the center more toward the community.

"Lane Avenue has tried to give the community what it wants and needs. Hopefully, we will succeed," she said. "We will still accommodate something for everyone."

Originally built as an open-air shopping mall, Lane Avenue's owners enclosed the center in 1980 because of changing consumer shopping preferences, Schaeff said. The center is evolving again, keeping up-to-date with what the public wants, she said. "[The center] has needed to be redone for a few years," she said. "The timing is right now to do it."

Some stores, such as Bath and Body Works, have closed until renovation ends, but over 20 stores are still open, Schaeff said. The center's grand reopening is tentatively planned for the end of 2003.