Final phase of Santa Rosa’s Coddingtown mall facelift begins this summer

Fresh off its successful opening of a Nordstrom Rack last fall, Coddingtown is planning what should be its last major exterior renovation effort.

The Santa Rosa mall expects to begin work this summer to bring at least four new retailers to the north side of the property, including pet store Unleashed by PetCo and personal care products retailer Ulta Beauty.

The upgrades, which received final design approval Thursday from Santa Rosa officials, will involve the demolition of one building and the major renovation of a second, said Kirstie Franceschi, property and development manager at Codding Enterprises, which owns the mall with Simon Property Group.

“We’re really excited that the exterior improvements are almost finished,” Franceschi said, “and we are looking forward to the next era at Coddingdown.”

Members of the city’s design review board praised elements of the project as “awesome” and “genius” for the way it incorporated outdoor seating into the landscaping plan.

Work should begin this summer and retailers able to open in 2018, Franceschi said. She declined to share the expected project costs.

That section of the mall was once home to Big 5 Sporting Good and GameStop. Those spaces are now vacant and stand in stark contrast to the busy Whole Foods Market and Starbucks on the either side.

Developer Hugh Codding built the suburban mall northwest of downtown in 1962 and for years it was a force in the city’s retail landscape. But by the 2000s it was showing its age and suffering from steady declines in foot traffic.

Simon Property Group, the world’s largest mall owner and owner of the rival Santa Rosa Plaza downtown, paid $37 million for a 50 percent stake in Coddingtown.

The partnership has brought major investment to the mall that has attracted big name retailers, including Whole Foods Market, Target, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Nordstrom Rack as well as a number of new restaurants.