If all goes according to plan, Berlin will soon have a Kohl's Department Store adjacent to the Berlin Mall. Mall owners announced this week they have reached a deal with Kohl's, but have not yet started the state and town permitting process.
The proposal is for a 55,502 square foot stand-alone store on the access road that leads from Fisher Road to the mall. Mall owners say they plan to start the permitting process later this month, and that the store opening date will depend on the speed of that process.
“The proposed construction of a Kohl’s department store furthers our goals of revitalizing the mall property, offering consumers more choices, and building more confidence in the Berlin-Barre-Montpelier area’s economic future,” said Ken Simon of Berlin Mall LLC, owners of the mall. “The project represents ‘in-fill’ development of under-utilized land in a developing area of Berlin and furthers the Berlin Town Plan’s goals of increase retail growth within the Town Center District and concentrating that growth in an area where it is already occurring.”
The mall, which has struggled with empty storefronts, is currently undergoing construction on both the mall building and the parking lot. Expansion of a Walmart anchor store is expected to be complete in October. The mall is also adding a Green Mountain Transit bus stop, a sidewalk between the mall and Fisher Road, and reconfiguring the traffic light at the intersection between the mall access road and Fisher Road, by the Central Vermont Medical Center.
Mall owners say they are also working on securing a permanent tenant for the 15,000 square foot space formerly occupied by Joann’s Fabrics.
