A team of Lafayette developers says its ideas for a revamped Chauncey Hill Mall have been largely confirmed by a week of public input.
Trinitas Ventures plans to start razing the current site by the end of 2019 and then begin a two-year facelift once the site is clear.
That’ll include a 650-space underground parking lot which dwarfs the current 120-space capacity of the surface lot that dominates the three-acre property.
But it’s what businesses that lot will serve that has been the focus of much of this week’s discussions.
Tonight at 6, architects will formally unveil plans that redesign the space so it could house a brewery, a grocery store, apartments and a boutique hotel – assuming investors can be found to create such spaces.
Trinitas Senior Vice President of Development Aaron Bartels says his team heard some of the same requests from multiple people.
“It’s really kind of a consistent theme of wanting to see live entertainment venues as part of the development, a grocery store as a key retail anchor and that common sense of destination, outdoor placemaking space for West Lafayette,” Bartels says.
Bartels says the new space will incorporate a similar number of businesses as the current one, but questions remain about whether local tenants who aren’t part of national chains will be able to come back. One sticky note posted on a public drawing of the site asks the developers to accommodate the longest-tenured mall store, Copymat, which makes copies and prints literature for clients. Bartels says the market may dictate who stays and who goes.
“At the end of the day, it’s not necessarily our call," he says. "It’s really up to the tenant – sort of what their future goals and ambitions are and where they want to be. We do know that the mall will obviously be closed for two years during construction and redevelopment.”
Bartels says Trinitas is also trying to find new locations away from the mall for businesses which prefer to relocate, rather than close up shop.
