TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) -- The Tallahassee Mall is continuing to transform into the Centre of Tallahassee.
Blackwater Resources, the mall's owner, says the entrance to the mall from John Knox Road will be opened in early August. The entrance will lead to a roundabout and cobblestone road that follows new additions to the mall, including a revamped food court and 6,500-seat covered amphitheater.
Developers say the amphitheater will be the largest in Tallahassee and will open with a concert Labor Day weekend, with the headlining act to be announced at a later date.
Blackwater Resources CEO Alex Baker says the mall currently is 72 percent leased. Current tenants including Belk, Guitar Center, Barnes and Noble, and the AMC theater are staying.
WTXL previously reported that the School of Arts and Sciences is adding a second campus that will be temporarily housed on the ground floor of the former Dillard's site.
Despite rumors, Baker says The Cheesecake Factory has not signed on as a tenant, though developers have been in touch with the business.
Regarding other tenants, developers will not announce new tenants to the mall before the tenants themselves do. Baker says some national businesses that once were at the mall will be returning.
Construction is expected to wrap up in phases, Baker said. The structures of the mall itself will be completed by early October, but this does not include the proposed apartment complex, hotel and restaurants that will be built on the property.
Baker estimates that all construction and renovations should be completed by the middle of 2016, pending permit approvals and individual tenant remodeling.
