Southridge Mall’s seven-figure face  lift could be the beginning of a  turnaround for the South Side shopping  center, which is battling competition  from suburban retail complexes.

Macerich Co., the Santa Monica,  Calif.-based company that owns and  manages Southridge, started mall renovations  late last fall and is working on  additional plans to rejuvenate the  mall’s retail scene with more tenants  and shoppers. Bob Aptaker, Macerich’s  vice president of development, said he  is close to making two large deals: a  new anchor store and a larger Target  Corp. store.

“We are in discussions with Target,  and they are interested,”Aptaker said.

The current Target store, built in  1992, contains 112,000 square feet,  which Aptaker said is “just too small,and  it doesn’t work with Target’s merchandising  plans.” He said the new store  would likely be in the range of 135,000  square feet.

Aptaker said he feels “very strongly”  about signing a new anchor tenant.  He is in talks with an apparel store  that wants to expand into the Des  Moines market with a 50,000-squarefoot  store.

“I think it’s very likely that they will  start construction in 2007 and maybe  open later in the year,” Aptaker said.

Rick Dobesh, owner of Harrison’s  Sporting Goods at Southridge, is glad  to know that Macerich recognizes  that it’s going to take some major  changes like those Aptaker is talking  about to breathe new life into the  shopping center.

“You’ve got to have something big to  draw people to the mall,” Dobesh said.  “When you get the ‘monster’ to come,  then the smaller retailers will follow.”

Bill Pirtle, who owns Pirtley’s  General Store with his wife, Regina,  likes the idea that the potential anchor  would be a store that is new to Des  Moines, which could draw new shoppers  to the mall.

“I think it’s going to have to be something  that offers something a little bit  different than the other malls have,” Pirtle said.”We need to be innovative to  compete.”

Pirtle, who has operated his store at  Southridge for 15 years, doesn’t blame  mall management for the mall’s struggle  to keep its occupancy rates up.

“We’re not the only mall that has lost  tenants,” Pirtle said.”The past couple of  years have been challenging for everybody  because there are more and more  places to shop and only so many shopping  dollars to go around.”

Just recently, Gap  Inc. decided that the  Des Moines market  wasn’t profitable  enough for two of its  stores, including the  one at Southridge,  which is closing this  week. The Merle Hay  Mall Gap is also closing.

“Losing the Gap is a  sad day as far as I’m  concerned,” Pirtle said.  “We need a good base  of retail here.”

Along with the two  large deals in the  works, Macerich’s  Aptaker is hopeful that  his company’s investment  in renovating  parts of the mall will  entice business owners  to open new stores at  Southridge.

The new 1,200-square-foot children’s  soft play area in the food court is the  first project to be completed from the  renovation plan Macerich announced  last October. The other  renovations, which  include new seating  areas throughout the  mall, new flooring and  wireless Internet access  in the food court,  remodeled restrooms  and a new family restroom,  are slated to be  completed this year.

Kelly Thevenot,  Southridge’s marketing  manager, said she  already has seen signs  of more visitors to the  mall since the play area  opened Dec. 1.  Thevenot said she  counted 21 percent  more people in the mall  the weekend the play  area opened compared  with the same weekend  in 2005. She said that momentum continued  through the holidays. On the Saturday  before Christmas, mall traffic was  up 58 percent from the previous year.

“Our traffic was up over the whole  holiday season and sales were up too,”  Thevenot said.

Dobesh said his sales stayed about  the same this past holiday season compared  with the year before. He hopes  that this year’s renovations will help  boost business from now on, and he  thinks more holiday decorating outside  the mall next season could also help  draw in more shoppers.

“With the South Side being the  fastest-growing part of Des Moines,  the mall is long overdue for some  efforts to try to get some new tenants,”  Dobesh said.

Aptaker said he knows that a lot of  work needs to be done at Southridge,  but he is confident that Des Moines  will support the investment his company  is making.

“Every challenge has an opportunity  behind it,”Aptaker said.”The South Side  really wants Southridge to succeed, and  we hope to bring in the momentum to  make it happen.So that this is the beginning  of the story of the revitalization of  Southridge.