The owner of the mostly vacant Regency Mall in Racine recently unveiled a redevelopment plan in hopes of revitalizing the property. That plan proposes a mix of new retail tenants as well as hundreds of new apartments.
The city of Racine will next month consider a plan to create a new 138-acre tax incremental district to provide $22 million in support of the Regency Mall redevelopment project.
A draft plan shows the first phase of development at the site would include a grocery “supercenter” and a gas station with a convenience store. The second phase will include approximately 279 apartments and a new retail center. A final stage of development will add high-end restaurants to the site, as well as a retail out parcel.
The tax incremental district would include the area bounded by South Green Bay Road to the west, Durand Avenue to the south, Roosevelt Avenue to the east and 21st Street to the north.
More than 60% of the existing mall is vacant, city documents show. Approximately 400,000 square feet of the Regency Mall building would be demolished to make way for the proposed improvements. The entire mall currently spans 810,337 square feet.
Augusta, Georgia-based Hull Property Group, the developer for the project, expects to spend $4.97 million on demolition work, $4.2 million for structural rework and interior renovations, $6.5 million on other sitework, and $5 million on costs associated with tenant relocation, buildout assistance, and other costs.
The city expects to spend around $22.2 million to support the project. That cost total includes $21.9 million in development incentives and $235,000 in administrative expenses and other costs. In return, the city is projecting the proposed improvements will add $71.09 million in incremental value to the site. The TID is expected to sunset by 2043.
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.
