Potomac Mills To Expand

From the Potomac News:

Thirteen months after Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group acquired The Mills Corporation, the investment group revealed plans for a multi-million dollar project that is bringing an upscale retailer and an expansion aimed at further ridding Potomac Mills mall of its warehouse-like exterior.

Plans to add a Neiman Marcus Last Call Clearance Center into the mall’s 200-plus store roster and construct an expansion that would include 50,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space were announced Thursday morning at a news conference held inside the mall in Woodbridge.

. . .

The expansion will feature 20,000 square feet of retail space, 30,000 square feet of restaurant space and a redesigned main entrance and exterior façade that one member of mall management said would bring a more park-like atmosphere to the south side of the property.

No restaurants have been announced for the expansion that will stretch from the movie theatre to Costco, but Goodman said the company is in talks with several interested eating establishments.

The company still has to go through the site plan approval for the expansion, he added, but its construction is expected to be complete in 2010.

. . .

Prince William County Board Chairman Corey A. Stewart, R-at large, and Supervisor Michael C. May, R-Occoquan, attended the brief news conference and spoke favorably of the plans.

Stewart said the two additions to Potomac Mills should help dispel any doubts about Prince William’s ability to compete with neighboring Fairfax County.

“The county continues to thrive commercially … even in these tough economic times,” Stewart said. “The county has diversified and become more cosmopolitan … [the addition] is going to prove without a doubt that Prince William County has finally moved upscale.”

Once again, Corey Stewart is displaying that he understands where the residents of our county want it to go and what it should be.