NORTH ANDOVER — Construction and commerce churn side by side at the North Andover Mall redevelopment project, a pairing that has not been without bumps in the road but is markedly improved, according to mall customers and employees.
Excavation, demolition, staging and installation — progress since earlier this year — along with additional signs guiding traffic and pedestrians, have kept the makeover moving with the planned Market Basket and Kohl’s location switch on schedule with safety in mind.
The new larger Market Basket with more amenities, including a coffee bar and seating for 20-30 people, is slated to open in the middle of the mall by late spring or early summer, a 12-14 month project.
Once the Market Basket site is vacated, builders will begin work on a 41,000 square foot Kohl’s department store and 17,600 square feet of specialty retail stores.
They are scheduled to open about a year from now — the end of 2025.
The redevelopment calls for carving off the existing Market Basket’s bump out section, 25-30 feet at the front of the store. This would make the mall largely flush from end to end.
In the last two weeks, a temporary walkway from Market Basket to the TJ Maxx department store and pedestrian signage were installed to safeguard walkers from the path of heavy equipment, motorists and buses.
Other recent redevelopments have included construction of a loading dock sound barrier at the back of the mall, dozens of ornamental tree plantings, the installation of parking lot islands and preliminary paving for most of the parking lot.
In the end, the number of parking spaces will be reduced from 1,011 to 909 spaces.
On Thursday at sundown, Robert Murdock toted a TJ Maxx bag to his motorcycle and noted how well marked the traffic patterns are in the busy mall.
He works at the Daybreak Shelter in Lawrence. He said he rode to the mall with a new shelter supervisor at lunch to buy food for a small shelter gathering and she pulled in and out with ease.
“It was her first time here and she didn’t even mention the construction,” he said, hopping on his Sym scooter.
A month ago, bookseller Olivia Renzi had abandoned walking from the Purple Couch bookstore, at the mall’s south end, to buy her lunch at Market Basket because it was too dangerous to walk around the parking lot.
Now she’s back to trekking to the supermarket from her work place for lunch or dinner.
The temporary walkway — fencing along the building façade and jersey barriers along the site access drive — was installed Oct. 16, followed by pedestrian signage.
“The walkway is a big help,” she said.
It safer to walk but also helps her financially. Instead of paying for lunch delivered from a local restaurant, she can walk to Market Basket for lunch and spend a fraction of the delivery and restaurant price.
The temporary walkway gets a lot of use.
Late Thursday afternoon, Lee Regan of Lawrence pushed her small handcart with groceries over the walkway from the south end of the mall to the north end MeVa transit bus stop.
She pushed her cart along the walkway past the open construction site where the former Kohl’s facade has been stripped and the interior is being prepared for the new Market Basket.
She said she comes to the mall every day, rides the Meva bus there and home. She has no complaints.
At the bus stop, Lawrence Bradley of North Andover, who also regularly shops at the mall and rides the bus, said he looks forward to the new Market Basket, similar to the one at Tuscan Village in Salem, New Hampshire.
A Market Basket employee outside the store on her break said she hasn’t heard complaints from customers about the construction and altered traffic patterns.
“It has been well marked,” she said.
Two inherent challenges for any strip mall redevelopment where the businesses remain open are how to keep traffic flowing safely and to maintain the customer flow for the tenants.
Steve Buco, working inside Wine and Beer at the North Andover Mall on Friday, said there has been less construction dust of late and the traffic flow at the mall has been better.
“People are getting used to it,” he said.
The mall’s MeVa bus stop is just outside the wine and beer store.
MeVa buses serve the mall daily, with more than 100 buses arriving and carrying more than 1,000 shoppers and workers to two stops, at either end of the mall.
Amauris Reynoso, a MeVa driver for 16 years, said driving in the mall was difficult when the access road in front of the stores was closed and the drivers had to drive around the parking lot. Now the route is cleaner.
“It is a little tight, but it is better now because they opened up the front of it,” he said.
MeVA driver Paula Diaz said driving in the mall is okay now but the holidays are approaching. “It is going to get crazy,” she says.
She expects that around Thanksgiving the drivers will have to contend with motorists parking in the bus stop lane as they dive into the wine and beer store.
On Friday at noon wind gusts raised dust at the mall and a line of freshly planted trees swayed in a newly installed parking lot island.
Just outside Market Basket’s doors, Army Reserves veteran John Sullivan and Navy veteran Rich Guilmette, from Andover American Legion Post 8, held down the red poppy table.
They said mall customers are always generous, eager to support the traditional pre-Veterans Day poppy sale that raises funds for youth, civic and veterans programs.
Meanwhile, a wind gust sent paper poppies scattering from the table to the ground.
Customers coming in and out of the store soon restored order from the momentary chaos.
Sullivan, of Andover, said he shops the mall regularly and has been impressed with the planning and coordination given the size of the project while the stores remain open for business.
The project also includes lighting, storm water collection, landscape and sidewalk improvements.