Plans are in place for North America's biggest mall to undergo an extensive makeover. The owners of West Edmonton Mall will dish out tens of millions of dollars in renovations over the next couple of years.
Mall officials aren't putting an exact dollar amount on much the project will cost only saying it's in the tens of millions of dollars. The renovations will start on March 1st on both levels of the mall east of the ice rink.
"We anticipate it will be fully transformed, we're talking about re-doing ceilings, columns, handrails, flooring, fountains -- obviously it's a multi-faceted renovation, there are a number of phases to it," said mall president and CEO Don Ghermezian.
The renovations aren't expected to pose any shopping interruptions for consumers as a lot of the work will be performed overnight when shops are closed.
"We anticipate it will be a fully transformed shopping centre," said Ghermezian.
Ghermezian says they are in negotiations with some high-end U.S. retailers to make the mall their entry point into the Canadian marketplace.
The renovations are expected to be completed by February 2013.
It's been 30 years since Phase One of the mall opened.
With files from Joel Gotlib
