VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — It's quiet when walking through Pembroke Mall after interior businesses relocated three months ago.
Piles of furniture and slabs of wood pulled from store walls and floors fill its halls.
Ramsay Smith, the president of the Pembroke Realty Group, says those are the preps taken before demolishing a part of the building.
"About 171-thousand square feet of the mall building itself is going to come down," Smith said.
It will make way for new apartments, a senior living facility and a hotel. He said some areas of the mall will remain.
"Where Bahama Breeze and Old Navy is staying, and there's another portion where Latitude and Rack Room is staying," he said.
Ramsay said with help from Virginia Beach, construction crews will also build two city-owned parking garages.
"We're going to pay additional tax, very similar to what Town Center did," Smith said.
"In that, that extra tax pays for the bonds, pays for the parking garages and will actually pay for the upkeep of those garages when they open."
The project is expected to cost roughly $24 million, and the city would pay about $30,000 per space. Although construction is months away, Smith is excited to see the project start to move along.
"It's really progress," he said. "You're taking away some of the old and the new gets to start right after that."
Smith said that he and his team soon will work with city leaders to discuss the design for the garage.
He said his team expects to break ground on the senior living facility, which will be located near Target, in July. Construction on the hotel and apartments won't start until next year.