The California firm that bought Shoppes at Fashion Square last year is moving forward with more plans for more shops and restaurants in the center abutting to the struggling mall on Colonial Drive.

LBX Investments will follow the opening this month of Del Taco with two new retail buildings on shovel-ready pads bookending the mall entrance off Maguire Boulevard. LBX Investments bought the Floor & Décor-anchored shopping center from Seritage Growth Properties last May for $25.7 million.

…

The expansion comes while Unicorp National Developments CEO Chuck Whittall is working with mall owner Bancorp on a redevelopment plan for the Fashion Square property, the city’s oldest mall.

“For about a year and a half we’ve been negotiating with them to co-develop the property, but everything’s just been on hold because of the market right now,” Whittall said. “The costs are so high, it just doesn’t make sense to do anything at this moment.”

Whittall and investor/broker Daryl Carter bought the 46-acre mall property in 2019 for $23 million but for years couldn’t come to terms with Bancorp, which owns the actual mall building, to buy out the lease.