The majority of Preston Oaks Shopping Center on Preston and Royal Lane will be demolished this month.
The center closed October 20th after an EF-3 tornado ripped through the area and destroyed most of the property.
“For the affected areas it’s going to be a complete demo and scrape and then we are going to rebuild from there,” said Eric Davidson with Regency Center, the center’s property owner. “During that time we are going to get access for our tenants to get their belongings but doing this with safety supervision to make it as safe as possible,” he said.
He said insurance teams and project heads are planning to meet with each tenant this week to discuss any insurance questions they might have and said they’re hoping to have specific construction plans ironed out as soon as possible.
Davidson says it will be rebuilt in stages with Central Market and McDonald’s reopening first but there isn’t an exact timeline for when it will all be completed. “We are still trying to get all the information back from our construction teams, structural architects and engineers,” he said.
He said construction also depends on the permitting process through the city, which he says will hopefully be approved by early 2020.
The shopping center has over 20 tenants with key retailers, Talbots and Central Market.
