Crews worked Wednesday to demolish the former Romano's Macaroni Grill building at Mayfaire Town Center in Wilmington.
The demolition could make way for new businesses to come to the 610,000-square-foot center on Military Cutoff Road.
"Our leasing team is working with a number of potential tenants to fill the parcel. However, we cannot make announcements until leases are signed," said Paige Coniglio, specialty leasing manager and marketing director for Mayfaire, in an email.
Macaroni Grill
closed in 2015, and the space has been vacant since then. New Hanover County property tax records valued the building at 1035 International Drive at more than $1 million.
Another restaurant building at the center, which at one time housed Main Street Brewery not far from the former Romano's Macaroni Grill location, is also vacant.
In recent years, Mayfaire Town Center officials have added retail buildings on Town Center Drive, which are occupied by Palmetto Moon, Hand & Stone Massage & Facial Spa, clothing store H&M and Sola Salon Studios. A new tenant on the way to Town Center Drive is
The STEM Labs.
Mayfaire Town Center is owned by CBL Properties, which in the past has planned for but not yet built some additional buildings on Town Center Drive near one of the center's main anchor tenants, the Regal Mayfaire Stadium 16 movie theater.
"While we wanted to include the ability to construct the additional buildings in our plans, we don’t build speculative space and believe it is important to take our time to find the best tenant and use for the space that will meet the demands in the market before we move forward constructing the additional buildings," Mayfaire officials said in an email in March.