Carson Mall starting $12M renovation next month

The Carson Mall Shopping Center will start work next month on a five-year, $12 million project that will add about 20 stores to the South Carson Street building. According to company representatives, the renovation will change the way the city looks at the mall.

Kevin Ray, a representative for the mall, acknowledged that the building - which has two vacant store spaces and is painted off-yellow inside - is "not that inviting." The remodeling will change residents' opinions by bringing in restaurants, redesigning the facade and adding new paint, he said.

Ray added that the building will also have more shopping specials, music and activities.

"What's attractive to most people is other people being there," he said. "You want to have a good restaurant to go to. You want to be able to go sit at lunch and stroll around."

According to BigMallrat.com, a Web site that reviews shopping centers in California and Nevada, the Carson Mall is small, looks dated and has sub-standard quality stores.

"The interior of the mall is rather dated and cheap looking," the review says.

The mall, which has about 20 stores now, is a place most residents think "probably needs significant refurbishment," said Joe McCarthy, the city's economic development manager. McCarthy said the remodeled mall will bring in more people and will serve as "gateway to downtown" for people coming to the city from the south.

Many visitors who come to Carson City go south to Douglas County to shop, said Candy Duncan, executive director of the Carson City Convention & Visitors Bureau. She said a contemporary design for the mall would be a "plus" for the city and might get more people to come inside who wouldn't before.

Ray said the mall will have an advantage because, unlike the northern Douglas County shopping center, it is enclosed.

"We're actually going to be creating a sense of community," he said.

Unfortunately, that isn't possible now because "the view people have is there's not enough inside."

Pat Bishop, store manager at Jo-Ann Fabrics & Crafts in the mall, said she was "absolutely excited" about the renovation. Business has been good, she said, but the project would probably make it better.

Business wasn't hurt by other stores such as TC Jewelers and Valley Chic Boutique leaving over the last year and half, she said.

Tim Callison, who manages the mall for the Carrington Co., said the redesigned interior and entrances will have a "modern-day look" and be the first major remodeling in the about 40 years since it opened.

He declined to name any of the stores that could be opening at the mall.

According to Ray, this project will create such a "drastic" change that the mall will "pretty much the hub of the community."

• Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.

Carson Mall

A five-year, $12 million project will add about 20 stores and restaurants to Carson's indoor mall.