Facelift brings new traffic to Plaza

3/19/2013

By RANDY GONZALES

rgonzales@dailynews.net

The Centennial Mall is no more.

With renovations completed last fall, the shopping center at 2510 Vine was renamed Centennial Plaza by Gina Stern, president of Centennial Investments LLC.

"I just felt the word 'mall' was from 1961," Stern said. "I just felt like it should be changed."

After consulting with her tenants, they said go for it.

"When I thought the word 'plaza,' to me 'plaza' makes me feel like a whole new shopping experience," said Stern, who lives in California, but grew up in London and has traveled across Europe. "When you think of a plaza, you think of being lovely and outside and a really nice feel to it."

There is a new entrance at the south end of the shopping center. The perception before, Stern said, was the only tenants were the ones near the old entrance.

"That has brought more foot traffic to the mall, definitely," Stern said.

The refurbishing cost approximately $225,000. There is just one vacancy at the shopping center, a small storefront next to Steinert Liquor.