Owners updating Valley River Center.Byline: Edward Russo The Register-GuardEugene's Valley River Center Valley River Center is a shopping mall located in Eugene, Oregon. As the largest shopping center south of Portland and north of San Francisco, this mall comprises over 130 local and national stores and restaurants. , needing a face-lift to brighten bright·en tr. & intr.v. bright·ened, bright·en·ing, bright·ens To make or become bright or brighter. bright its drab appearance and help it compete against newer rivals, is launching a $2 million renovation. When completed next spring, the exterior facade on much of the enclosed regional shopping mall will sport a new look. Also, the mall's interior is being touched up. Workers now are installing metal cladding The plastic or glass sheath that is fused to and surrounds the core of an optical fiber. The cladding's mirror-like coating keeps the light waves reflected inside the core. The cladding is covered with a protective outer jacket. See fiber optics glossary. , slate tiles and precast concrete precast concrete Concrete cast into structural members under factory conditions and then brought to the building site. A 20th-century development, precasting increases the strength and finish durability of the member and decreases time and construction costs. columns on the east side of the mall - the busiest and most visible side. Architect John Lawless LAWLESS. Without law; without lawful control. said the aim is to add depth and color to the mall's exterior. "Things will stand out," said Lawless, president of TBG TBG abbr. thyroid-binding globulin TBG thyroxine-binding globulin. TBG Thyroxine-binding globulin, see there Architects & Planners in Eugene. "We are providing three-dimensional profiles to the facade as opposed to (the present) flat, painted surfaces." The appearance of the mall - a 34-year-old complex, mostly tan in color and anchored by massive department store buildings - needed to be updated, said David Olson, a San Francisco-based senior vice president of Grosvenor, the mall's owner. "From time to time, we want to make sure we present a fresh image for the center," he said. The work began with interior painting two months ago, mall manager Veronica Molony said. New lights, yet to be installed, will brighten the interior, especially on gloomy winter days, she said. Two main mall The Main Mall was an outdoor pedestrian shopping plaza in downtown Poughkeepsie, New York, which was in existence from 1973 until 2001. A urban renewal project designed with the intention of stopping the decline of the central business district of downtown Poughkeepsie, the mall entrances on the east side - between Chili's and J.C. Penney, and between the former Emporium and Meier & Frank - are being redone re·done v. Past participle of redo. . But while parts of the exterior get a new look, the outside of the mall's largest tenants - Meier & Frank, Bon-Macy's, J.C. Penney and Copeland's Sports - will not change. Those mall occupants either own their buildings or have leases that let them control the exterior appearance, Molony said. The empty Montgomery Ward structure, owned by Grosvenor but awaiting redevelopment, won't be included in the work either. The exterior work will be done in two phases. The first, to be done by November, will change the look of the east side of the mall. The second, to be done by next May, will cover the less visible west side of the mall, which faces the river. The renovation is part of Grosvenor's ongoing effort to freshen up Verb 1. freshen up - make brighter and prettier; "we refurbished the guest wing"; "My wife wants us to renovate" refurbish, renovate gentrify - renovate so as to make it conform to middle-class aspirations; "gentrify a row of old houses"; "gentrify the old the entire commercial area around the mall, as well as the mall itself. The center, encompassing more than a million square feet, includes a half-dozen buildings outside the mall that are home to Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Petco, Gateway Country, Mucho Gusto Mexican Kitchen, Umpqua Bank and other businesses. In the past year or so, Grosvenor has spent about $1 million to renovate the exteriors of those structures, Olson said. Valley River Plaza, a nearby building under different ownership, also is undergoing a major exterior renovation. |
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