LYNNWOOD – More than two years of construction, even more planning and 500,000 construction worker hours are nearing an end for Alderwood mall.
A week from today, the Lynnwood shopping center will open The Village at Alderwood – almost three dozen new stores and restaurants clustered in an outdoor, streetlike arrangement on the north side of the mall.
Alderwood spokeswoman Tamera Wachter said all but a couple of businesses in The Village have indicated they will be ready for the opening.
“We know customers are very excited to shop at the new stores and dine at the new restaurants, so we’re expecting very significant activity during the grand opening weekend,” she said.
The Village addition, part of a mall renovation and expansion project that cost an estimated $100 million or more, includes Lynnwood’s relocated REI store, which now features a 23-foot-tall climbing wall, as well as a slew of upscale national chain stores such as Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, Ann Taylor Loft and Apple Computer.
In between the storefronts, outdoor pedestrian areas are sprinkled with landscaping islands and fountains. Shoppers can rest on polished stone benches.
P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, on the other end of The Village, stands out because of an 11-foot-tall horse statue on a large pedestal near the front entrance, an icon for the restaurant chain.
The restaurant actually opened Monday, even as employees at neighboring businesses were stocking inventory and construction workers were putting the finishing touches on other storefronts.
Matthew Stuckens, operating partner for the 7,000-square-foot restaurant, said he’s happy to have the head start.
“Even if it still looks like a construction zone, people are making their way to us,” Stuckens said, adding that business has been relatively brisk for an unadvertised opening. “It seems like Alderwood and the market around Lynnwood have been craving some upscale shopping and dining choices.”
While the new stores are a boon to shoppers, they’re also welcomed by those hired to fill about 1,500 full- and part-time jobs at the new businesses. P.F. Chang’s alone has 150 full- and part-time employees.
The grand opening activities kick off at 8 a.m. next Thursday, with free refreshments for shoppers in The Terraces Food Court at the mall. Live entertainment will follow at 9 a.m. Local officials will speak before 10 a.m., when a massive curtain will be opened at the mall’s center court entrance to The Village.
The first 2,500 shoppers through the center court doors will receive complimentary gift bags filled with special items and offers from Alderwood’s merchants. Other activities are planned through Nov. 7.
Later in November, two new restaurants on the mall’s south side are scheduled to open, followed by the completion of a new Loew’s 16-screen cinema complex early next year.
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