The future of West Park Mall

Plans are in place for redeveloping West Park Mall, the iconic shopping center in Cape Girardeau, known and frequented by generations of Southeast Missouri residents since 1981. Ownership of West Park Mall has changed many times in the past 40 years, but this time is different: The owners are local.

River City Centre (RCC), LLC, a group of real estate developers from Southeast Missouri, purchased West Park Mall on June 30, 2021. Nick Martin, president of Pilot Construction Solutions and RCC representative, said this group of owners grew up visiting the mall and has a real connection to its redevelopment.

“One of the biggest positives of this entire project is the owners [of West Park Mall] are also people that you’re going to see patronizing some of these stores at the mall,” Martin said. “They’ve got a professional and personal responsibility to make sure they get it right.”

Martin said RCC has partnered with The Lawrence Group, a St. Louis-based design firm with a history of mall redevelopment projects, including the Mid Rivers Mall in St. Peters, Mo., and City Foundry STL in St. Louis. The group has experience locally with projects such as Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus.

RCC has also partnered with St. Louis commercial real estate company Pace Properties, Kansas City, Mo., commercial real estate adviser Integra Realty Resources (IRR) and Cape Girardeau design and construction management company Pilot Construction Solutions to complete West Park Mall’s redevelopment.

Martin said part of the mall’s redevelopment includes signing on a large number of new tenants, including many national retailer brands and restaurants that “people have desired in Cape for a while.”

“By adding a lot of the new tenants here, all it’s going to do is improve the businesses that are currently in the mall and every business and restaurant around the mall,” Martin said.

As for physical changes to the mall’s structure, Martin said RCC plans to create more exterior entrances to allow shoppers the choice of entering certain retailers from inside or outside the mall. RCC has multiple phases of development planned, with more structural changes to come.

Martin said the group estimates this project, once completed, will have created approximately 700 new and retained jobs, and an additional 750 construction jobs throughout the course of the redevelopment.

Currently, Martin said they are in the design process, and he tentatively anticipates construction will begin for the project’s first phase in August of this year, potentially open to the public by Summer 2024.

“This is on a totally different scale of development. It’s going to be one of the bigger projects, when it’s all said and done, that Cape has seen in a while,” Martin said.

West Park Mall opened on March 5, 1981. This was a huge celebration, not just for the City of Cape Girardeau, but for all of Southeast Missouri.

Christy Easley, West Park Mall general manager since 2012, said the mall is strategically placed, with no major shopping centers within at least an hour’s drive from Cape Girardeau in every direction.

Easley says West Park Mall has been waiting for an ownership group that would revitalize this important community asset. Since 2006, when Easley began working for the mall as an administrative assistant, she said there have been 10 different ownership or management groups, with most of them based outside of the area or outside of the United States.

Easley said she has noticed a major difference with how involved and upfront RCC has been since they purchased the property.

“It’s part of their community, so they want to see it grow and prosper and do well. … When we were transitioning to new ownership, they were here [at the mall] weekly,” Easley said. “And there’s still that ongoing communication and frequently visiting the mall and asking questions. It’s really been a blessing.”

RCC’s vision for this project is that it will bring more retailers and national brands to the area, create new jobs, positively impact the regional economy, and of course, restore the shopping center to its former status as Southeast Missouri’s retail and entertainment hub.

For more information about RCC and the redevelopment of West Park Mall, visit rccmgmt.com.