Proposed plans to redevelopment Valley West Mall will include razing the former Younkers department store but not the structure that houses J.C. Penney, a mall spokesperson told the Business Record.

Planning for the mall’s redevelopment began in earnest in 2020 around the time J.C. Penney filed for bankruptcy, said Trisha Barton, the mall’s marketing and communications director said. “We didn’t actually think they’d make it out the other side.

The national retailer recently emerged out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy under new ownership.

Barton said the company has “told us that they are not planning on leaving.

“As long as Penney’s has a lease and would like to stay in the [mall], we will design the project for them to be a part of it.”

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