Potomac Mills releases expansion plans

By Elisa Glushefski

Published: May 15, 2008

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.

"I think Potomac Mills is a sleeping giant," Gregg Goodman, executive vice president for The Mills, said following the announcement. "As good as it is today, we think we can make it even better."

Neiman Marcus Last Call Clearance Center will move into an existing 34,000 square-foot space between the Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse and AMC Theatres, Goodman said, adding that construction work is scheduled to begin this fall and open the following spring.

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.

David Gott, general manager of Potomac Mills, said the project would help synergize the exterior with the interior, which underwent renovation between 2004 and 2005.

The addition of restaurants in particular, Gott said, would address what he described as one of the mall's primary weaknesses.

On the same note, Goodman said pairing sit-down restaurants with a movie theater would create date-night opportunities that would draw more patrons and lead to extended trips at the mall.

The mall has a Ruby Tuesday, but Goodman said the expansion would provide the company a "platform" to add upscale restaurants and retail brands.

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."

Staff writer Elisa Glushefski can be reached at 703-878-8062 or .