Redevelopment of Tucson’s Foothills Mall is underway as walls are taken down for the future mixed-use project, Uptown. Local developer Bourn Cos. plans to demolish more than 65% of the existing mall structure, at Ina Road and La Cholla Boulevard. A handful of tenants, including Bath and Body Works, Applebee’s and a 15-screen AMC Theater will remain open.

Don Bourn explains, “We need to make the mall feel like it was built, not for 30 years ago, but for 10 years from now.” Bourn plans an online “reveal” of the Uptown project on May 15. In 2018, Bourn received a zoning change that would allow the company to rebuild the mall as a mixed-use area with possibilities ranging from multi-family housing, office space, retail, restaurants and entertainment.

Bourn bought the 51-acre property in 2016, when the mall was struggling to compete with nearby outlet malls, that lured tenants away. Foothills Mall originally opened in 1982.