ROANOKE, Va. – Tanglewood Mall is getting a delicious upgrade in 2022.
Officials announced Wednesday that four new restaurants and a new dentistry will be making their way to Electric Road starting this year.
Among those businesses are Chipotle, Panda Express, Blaze Pizza, Jersey Mike’s and Aspen Dental.
Two new buildings, which will be home to those fives businesses, will be constructed along Electric Road in front of the new Carilion Children’s, which is where the former JC Penney was located.
It’s an upgrade for the mall which some have considered an eyesore. Roanoke County Economic Development Director Jill Loope said revitalization at Tanglewood is just getting started.
“This is our economic core in the county, it’s our downtown, it’s a great opportunity for new investment,” Loope said. “It’s several million dollars of new construction cost, new investment, the retailers and the service-related business that are coming in will be investing a lot in equipment and employees.”
The dream of the 419 Town Center is still years away, but to get to a dense mid-rise neighborhood you have to start somewhere. Loope said Carilion’s new pediatrics center moving into the former JC Penny’s anchor spot is a catalyst for growth.
“So it begins with a plan, you start implementing the plan by putting in the infrastructure, you start building the infrastructure which gets the attention of developers,” Loope said.
The construction on Electric Road is part of $30 million in infrastructure upgrades and Loope said this is just the beginning with more reasons for people to visit coming soon.
Those are the things that retailers and commercial businesses want to know about, they want to be where that is,” Loope said.
Blackwater Resources said construction will begin March 2021, and tenants will begin opening these new businesses at the start of 2022.
Loope also said Michael’s will replace the vacated AC Moore store.