Iowa City’s Sycamore Mall is getting a facelift. CORE Realty Holdings is working with Shive-Hattery to rebrand the once busy building into the new Iowa City Marketplace.
“This is a great opportunity to incorporate new national trends in the commercial market into Iowa City, and Sycamore Mall is proving to be a great place to start,” said Mark Seabold, Shive-Hattery Architect, in a written statement. “The mall has seen its share of vacancies in recent months, but this rebranding will open the area up to greater possibilities, while synergizing with its established tenants.”
Having the opportunity to do large-scale improvements to the mall in a phased manner allows the new Iowa City Marketplace to have a variety of uses. The main concept removes leased space to provide interior and exterior areas for social interaction, including a new exterior plaza at the former main entrance.
This type of re-use is popping up across the country; the idea of turning an existing structure into social space by bringing dining, entertainment and mixed-use areas together. The hope is to create a free-flowing environment that engages the visitors in a meaningful way.
Negotiations are currently underway with potential tenants that share in these same ideals.
“By researching many different tenant concepts from schools to grocery to fabrication studios, the thought is to create a variety of reasons to visit the Iowa City Marketplace and provide something very different from the other retail experiences in the local area,” said Seabold.
