Janesville-based grocery store company
Woodman's has purchased a portion of the Regency Mall property in Racine, where it plans to replace a vacant department store with a grocery store.
The 21-acre parcel at 5900 Durand Ave. was bought for $8.8 million from Georgia-based Hull Property Group, which owns the core of the mall as well.
Hull Property Group purchased Regency Mall in December 2016 for $9.6 million as part of a three-property acquisition. The company specializes in buying struggling mall properties stabilizing them, transforming them and then repositioning them. As of last year, more than 60% of Regency Mall was vacant, according to records from the city of Racine.
Demolition has already begun on about 400,000 square feet of the mall and its former Boston Store to make way for the 244,000-square-foot Woodman's Food Market grocery store, which will not be attached to the mall's core, city documents show.
The development will also include a standalone gas station.
The nearest Woodman's locations to Racine currently are in Kenosha and Oak Creek.
The city of Racine in April 2023 approved up to $39.4 million in tax incremental financing to support the redevelopment of Regency Mall. The Woodman's development is the first of a
multi-phase redevelopment plan that includes approximately 279 apartments and a new retail center in the second phase and high-end restaurants and more retail space in the third phase.
