Two longtime Northland Mall stores open in Sterling Crossing

STERLING – Bath & Body Works, which closed its shop in Northland Mall, opened Friday, Feb. 9, in Sterling Crossing across the street.

It is the second major retailer to leave the mall at 2900 E. Lincolnway and open in the new shopping center at 2901 E. Lincolnway this month.

Maurices closed its longtime store at the mall and opened in the redeveloped Kmart site Feb. 2.

There still are 15,000 square feet of space available between Shoe Sensation and Old Navy. Sterling Crossing developer Chris Williams said Thursday he is willing to split the space into 5,000-square-foot increments.

In addition, there are four outlet spaces on-site waiting for tenants to sign a lease before buildings will be constructed.

Williams said he is in talks with potential tenants, but doesn’t want to name names until the deals are finalized.

Five Below opened in the Crossing on Sept. 29, and Marshalls opened Nov. 2. Shoe Sensation, which has a store up the road in the Pine Tree Plaza at 4311 E. Lincolnway, opened there Nov. 16, and Old Navy on Nov. 18.

The Sterling VA Outpatient Clinic was its first tenant. It opened Jan 10, 2022, in the east end of the main building,

The clinic, part of the VA Iowa City Healthcare System, moved from 406 Ave. C downtown into 17,600 square feet of leased space, almost doubling its size and allowing it to add services.

Williams, owner of Highlands Development LLC of Kansas City, Missouri, bought the long-vacant Kmart property in 2020 for $1 million and made his planned $14 million redevelopment of the 100,000-square-foot site contingent upon the city providing economic development incentives, which the City Council approved in November 2021.

Kmart operated there for 41 years from July 1973 to January 2014.