INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, Fla. — This week, crews began taking down portions of the Indian River Mall to make way for a revitalization project for the shopping center.
Joseph Scarfone, the project manager working on the redevelopment project, said crews are working on the first phase: taking down the Macy’s and soon, where the Sears used to be.
WATCH: New development coming as Indian River Mall demolished
"To be honest, I’m really happy they're tearing this down,” said neighbor Mary Alice Stopyra. “It's just degraded over time.”
"It looks like the death of a beautiful building," said Mark Manera from Vero Beach.
WPTV spoke to neighbors watching the demolition in the parking lot of Indian River Mall.
Manera said he’s been coming to the mall for years.
"It was more like a graveyard,” said Manera. "We saw a steady decline year after year after year."
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Manera said change is needed.
"If that brings new life, new jobs, new opportunity, that's wonderful,” said Manera.
Scarfone said the site will be transformed and resurrected into a new sleek and modern indoor and outdoor shopping center, with around 300,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and possible residential spaces.
“They're not going to see a dead mall for the last 12 years that was getting cobwebs,” said Scarfone. "It's a city within a city.”
Scarfone said hopes the first phase can be done by 2027, and they're still working on permitting for the rest of the project.
