Mall officials plan to announce new tenants in a few weeks. With the addition of one indoor and one outdoor shopping area, there will be about 50 more stores and restaurants on the site.

Construction on the shopping areas, called The Terraces and The Village, will begin later this year. Both are scheduled to open in 2004.

In the meantime, the mall is launching an ad campaign to highlight "our upscale direction," said marking director Tamera Wachter.

Next month, construction starts on a new information center, and in April, work begins on the mall's new entrance. When it is finished -- about two months later -- it will boast a patio area, outdoor fireplace and clock tower.

The mall plans to bring in 12 new tenants, who will be officially named later this year, said general manger Linda Johannes.

Under the mall's development plans, retail space is expected to be added in the next two or three years.

Under a 1998 development proposal, a movie theater and office building would have been demolished. Shops, offices and restaurants would have been built in their place. The company also wanted to add a theater, a hotel and office and residential units on its south parking lot.

The project was scrapped, however, following legal disputes related to water running underneath a parking lot that some community groups consider part of Thornton Creek.

Simon sold off part of the mall's property last year to be used as a park and ride lot and has not yet determined what to do with the rest of the site.

The mall is 100 percent leased and has no plans for new tenants, said marking director Angela Forest.

Johnny Rockets, a restaurant under construction, is slated to open in March, and a pan-Asian restaurant may open in the former Stars Bar & Dining space in the spring.

Pacific Place officials have already lined up a retail tenant to move into the Cafe Starbucks unit, and they are also marketing the Cutter & Buck and Tommy Hilfiger spaces, which are expected to empty around March.

Interest from retailers in the shopping center's spaces is up from last year, said Lynn Beck, marking manager.

		Phil H. Webber / P-I
	A 110,000-square-foot Bon Marche, the latest major addition at Redmond Town Center, will open in August.

Center officials expect to formally announce another development on the property: a 262-room Marriott hotel with a convention facility, said Kelley Gast, the center's marketing manger.

This month, two eateries also will open: Matt's restaurant and Cold Stone Creamery, an ice cream parlor.

Some merchants slated to move into the mall: Fuzziwig's Candy Factory, Thai Go, Ezell's Famous Chicken and a Nextel phone store.

Following the mall's renovation in 2000, officials also are planning improvements to its parking lot.

The building -- which includes Crate and Barrel, The Land of Nod (a children's clothing and toy store), Metropolitan Pilates, Fiorini Sports and Starbucks -- will open in May.

City officials said this week that a formal redevelopment application had not yet been filed. A Westfield spokeswoman did not return phone calls seeking comment.

The mall is adding two retailers, said Southcenter spokeswoman Kristin Flores. Bahama Breeze restaurant and Weisfield Jewelers will open in the spring.

Furniture company to close stores

United Furniture Warehouse may close some of its Washington stores.

The Vancouver, B.C.-based company closed its Fife and Olympia stores in November, and it may close several other underperforming stores in the state this year, said Chief Executive Officer John Volken. He said specific closure locations had not yet been determined.

The company operates 13 stores in Washington and more than 150 in the United States and Canada.

Retail Notebook is a Saturday feature by P-I retail reporter Christine Frey. She can be reached at 206-448-8142 or christinefrey@seattlepi.com

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