Pelican Square is getting a makeover.

Extensive renovations are expected to begin in coming weeks on the 28-year-old shopping center at 1645 Seaside Road SW in Ocean Isle Beach, said Phil Begany and Will Oakes of Raleigh-based Lat Purser & Associates Inc.

It's not the prettiest center to look at as it stands now, Begany and Oakes said in a recent interview. But now that Lat Purser & Associates Inc. owns the 42,420-square-foot Pelican Square and has brought in additional investors, that's about to change, they said.

"We're excited to bring a new vision and new life to the center," Oakes said.

Begany said in the first phase of the project, crews will put a new metal facade on the storefronts, new lighting throughout the center, grind and repave the parking lot, introduce new colors to the building "and hopefully take it from kind of a terminal gray look to a much more beach friendly center."

The center was built in 1989 and the Food Lion anchor tenant moved across the road in 1999. In Phase II of the project, Begany said, the owners plan to convert the former Food Lion space into a facility to accommodate smaller shops. 

"We'll take national clients, but we're also looking for strong local flavor for the center, to bring the community together around there. We'd love to see local restaurants, artists, anybody that's looking to run a business in the area," Begany said.

Subdividing the former anchor tenant space "will give us a lot of flexibility and creativity," he said.

The plan for Phase II also includes building "a pocket-type neighborhood" of between 15 and 20 single-family homes along the back of the center where the owners of Pelican Square also have some land that includes a pond, Begany said.

Begany and Oakes said they hope the first phase will be complete by the end of September, with expectations of a unnamed national tenant going in 8,400 square feet at Pelican Square before the first of December.

Lat Purser & Associates bought the entity that owns Pelican Square for an undisclosed amount.

"We've got some strong interest [from potential tenants] and now that we've closed [on the center's purchase], we're ready to get some leases together and get this thing really rolling," Oakes said.

Now seems like the perfect time for the changes, Oakes said, because of the strength of the economy and strength of residential growth in the region. While the permanent populations of Ocean Isle Beach and nearby Sunset Beach are small, the numbers swell to 35,000 people in the area during the summer, according to marketing materials for Pelican Square.

A center anchored by a Publix grocery store is in the works in Ocean Isle Beach, but Oakes and Begany said they expect the revamped Pelican Square to draw clients looking for a more affordable opportunity. 

Suites from 1,200 to 10,000 square feet are available in Pelican Square.

"The center has been there for a long time . . . I think a lot of people locally are going to be excited when they see what's to come," Oakes said.