Evans said his team has had discussions with prospective tenants and work should begin in earnest sometime in 2019. Marketing materials indicate the project would be ready for tenants by the beginning of 2020.

St. Louis-based Remiger Design and Cedergreen worked on the master plan design.

The more than 1 million-square-foot mall — which previously operated as Crestwood Court and Crestwood Shopping Center — opened in 1957 and once housed nearly 100 stores.

But like many malls in the region and nationwide, it deteriorated as shoppers’ habits changed. It closed in 2013.

The mall was demolished in 2016 and 2017 after UrbanStreet was chosen to redevelop the site. But there has been no progress on the redevelopment site since.

Simpson said after the mall closed in 2013, the city felt a sales tax revenue pinch and was forced to cut 30 percent of its workforce as it “adapted to a new reality without a leading regional mall.”