The owners of Chatham’s downtown shopping centre are moving forward with plans to revitalize the mall into a hub for shopping, dining, living, and entertainment.
100 King Street CK Holdings Inc., which owns the Downtown Chatham Centre (DCC), unveiled design renderings for the 220,000-square-foot space on Monday, depicting a complete redesign and revisualization of the 42-year-old building.
Building owners Rob Myers and Jessica Myers, Don Tetrault of the Tatro Group, and Ron Nydam of J.P. Holdings and J.P. Contractors have partnered on the project, which is expected to break ground in the fall.
“We’re excited about what it will do for Chatham-Kent,” said Nydam.
While many details remain in the preliminary planning phase, the group said the interior will be completely revitalized and will include a new elevator and escalators. The updated building will also include 10 apartment units that will be rented to tenants, and the outside parkade will be completely rehabilitated.
While the partner group said local residents can also expect live entertainment, game rooms and new restaurants, no specifics have been released at this time.
Nydam said the majority if not all of the existing tenants in the mall are expected to remain in the DCC following the building’s revitalization. The project is expected to take 18 to 24 months once shovels are in the ground.
“Everybody is very excited. The people that I talk to, all the tenants I’ve spoken to in the mall are very excited for what’s coming,” said Nydam.
Nydam said the redesign of the DCC will be a modern take on the downtown experience, while also recreating the lost history of downtown Chatham.
“I love history and to see what used to be here when it was torn down to build this mall,” he said. “Going back and looking at some of those pictures has given [us] the creative juice to attempt to bring back some of Chatham’s lost history.”
A plan to revitalize the DCC was initially pitched by the owners in 2022 as a joint venture with the Municipality of Chatham-Kent. The initial proposal, dubbed Imagine Chatham-Kent, included plans to convert the mall into an arena/entertainment complex and to amalgamate several municipal services into the attached former Sears building.
However, in June 2023 it was announced that the owners would not be moving forward with the proposal and instead opted to sell the Sears building to the municipality.
Chatham-Kent Council voted in favour of the deal in January 2024 and bought the Sears property for $2.95 million to develop a Chatham-Kent Community Hub. The proposed multi-year project would see the Chatham-Kent Civic Centre, CK Public Library and CK Museum moved into the former Sears building.
As part of the new redevelopment plans, 100 King Street CK Holdings Inc. is also launching a contest to give members of the community the chance to submit a new name for the space. Each entry will be given the chance to win a trip for two on a private jet.
Further information on the revitalization project and the contest can be found by clicking here.
