SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — South Charleston Mayor Frank Mullens says once the construction grounds have been settled at the developing Park Place Plaza Shopping Center by the coming summer, then progress will really start moving along.
The fill dirt in the former FMC Fly Ash Pond along MacCorkle Avenue in South Charleston is currently in the process of all being laid down and smoothed over, in preparation for construction on the new 500,000 square foot shopping complex.
Mullens said on The Dave Allen Show Monday that once this settlement and compaction phase is complete, a major step of the project will also be finished, which will allow for the stores to then start to go up.
“You should see that construction starting around July of next year, and once that starts that will be like a whole bunch of stuff going up at one time, so that will be really exciting,” Mullens said.
The first tenant of the new Park Place mall was Chick-Fil-A, who opened its doors there in March. 
Now, Mullens said progress is getting underway for two more long-awaited occupants to start making their way in.
“You got Starbucks going up now as we speak, and then hopefully this spring Menards will start coming in,” Mullens said. “We got their site almost ready to go, so they should start hopefully sometime this spring.”
Mullens said construction on the rest of the complex that will surround Menards store is contingent on the rate of the settlement and compaction process.
While there has been no word yet on what the other businesses are that will be coming to the Park Place center, Mullens said there have been several interested business developers wanting to occupy a space there.
He said in an earlier statement that he believes the project could impact the entire region.
“I think since day 1 I called this a gamechanger for the community, not just South Charleston but I think the whole valley, Mullens said.
Construction on the whole project is expected to be complete by August 2025.