After being purchased by new owners, the Peninsula Center Mall has undergone noticeable renovations over the past year and a half.
Owner Bart Bias said they began on the outside of the mall to improve it’s appearance.
Bias: “New siding, new paint, parking lot, new LED lighting, striping, got a pattern to the mall finally ya know there’s never been any actual traffic pattern and we have that established now. Our future plans are now we’re moving to the inside, we LED lighted the inside, got the light clouds all back on again with LED changing light colors, and we’re doing carpeting. Hopefully here in the near future we’re going to start the tile and start painting the upper lid inside the mall.”
Northern Simulators opened in early June where visitors can practice on bow hunting and golf simulators; Pizza Hut has plans to move in soon.
Bias said they are searching for other new establishments like a jewelry store, women’s clothing store, and a store like Anchorage’s Natural Pantry.
Bias: “I’ve been on the peninsula for 25 years and the mall used to be a center attraction and it’s getting back to that again and we wanted to make sure it never did fade away and bring it up to what it needs to be. Malls are coming back, there was a time when strip malls were king and now the strip malls aren’t and now the malls are getting to be. The Dimond Mall in Anchorage, the Sears mall are all upgrading so we thought it’d be a good time to join the bandwagon here on the peninsula.”
The mall has seen increased shopping traffic since the renovations began according to Bias, especially near holidays and special events like the classic car show they hosted.