Demolition has begun on the former Sears store in the Stone Road Mall, which will soon make way for brand new retail space and three large retailers and three freestanding pad sites.
In an email, Stone Road Mall general manager Kevin Knight said the effect on parking will be negligable because the new development will not be taking on as big a footprint as the Sears store does.
The former Sears store took up 116,000 sq. ft. of space, while the new construction will be 90,000 sq. ft. The three pad sites will total about 22,500 sq. ft.
"The great thing is that the spaces that will be lost to the pads are those furthest from the building along the border of Edinburgh Rd, but the count of parking spaces right beside the building, adjacent to the parkade, will go up from 29 to 165," said Knight.
Last week, Beertown Public House confirmed its restaurant would be one of the three pad sites, standalone businesses that will be located in the parking lot area.
The renovation will allow the mall to increase its count of barrier-free parking stalls for visitors with accessiblity needs, because of the new entrace on that side of the mall, said Knight.
The new wing will feature LED lighting and an additional set of public washrooms. New tenants are expected to open in late 2019 or early 2020.
Sears closed its Guelph location on Jan. 8, 2018. It was one of almost 200 stores shuttered across the country as Sears Canada liquidated its assets and laid off about 2,900 employees.
The Sears space at the Stone Road Mall was part of the building's original development and had been relatively unchanged in 45 years.
