The mall addition, under construction for two years, will open July 25, the mall's Australian ownership group announced Thursday.

When the 400,000-square-foot addition to the mall's south side opens, it will make Southcenter the area's largest shopping center at 1.7 million square feet, said Larry Green, Westfield Corp.'s senior vice president of West Coast development. (The Tacoma Mall is 1.3 million square feet before its expansion, which is under way.)

The mix of merchants signed up for space in the mall addition will upgrade the mall's appeal, said Green. The new structure is completely leased.

Among those merchants are such cutting-edge retailers as Sweden clothier H&M with its first Pacific Northwest location. Others include PINK, a new retail concept from Victoria's Secret featuring a lineup of loungewear, sleepwear and intimate apparel, and Gilly Hicks, a new store from Abercrombie & Fitch.

Other new merchants include Aerie, Aeropostale, Forever XXI, Hollister, Metropark, Skechers, Banana Republic, Bare Essentials, Coach, Love Culture, Lucky Brand Jeans, Sephora and White House - Black Market.

One of the larger stores in the mall's new section will be Borders Books, with a two-story "concept" store.

New restaurants will include Joeys, Duke's Chowder House, Blue C Sushi, Racha Thai & Asian Bistro, and BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse. Standalone versions of The Cheesecake Factory and Olive Garden have opened since construction began in the mall's south parking lot.

The mall's managers gave reporters a sneak peek at the still-incomplete project Thursday morning.

That tour revealed just how much mall architecture has evolved since Southcenter opened in 1968.

The addition has gone to two levels from the one in the original mall. And restaurants and entertainment have become a far larger part of the mix of activities in the new structure.

The centerpiece of the new building appended to the existing structure is a three-story atrium surrounded by a view-enhanced food court on the upper levels and framed by cafe-style indoor-outdoor restaurants on the ground level.

On the atrium's third floor, a 16-screen AMC theater will draw patrons up escalators to the upper-level shopping area and to the food court. The theater will feature an expansive screen for special IMAX film showings.

Two multi-level parking garages, one east of the entrance near the J.C. Penney store and one west of the grand, 90-foot-tall atrium window wall near Sears, will be linked with skybridges to the addition.

Mall customers will even be able to park on the roof of the addition and walk directly to the theater, said Green.

The addition's architecture is a curious mixture of stone and timber Northwest features adorned with a series of vertical embellishments reminiscent of the '60s-style J.C. Penney department store at the mall's southeast corner.

Inside, the floors are covered with sand-colored marble tiles. Light penetrates through skylights to the lower levels.

At the east end of the new retail area, Westfield is creating a family lounge with changing stations, nursing rooms and children's toilets, along with DVDs, flat-screen TVs and children's toys and books, with child-oriented merchants located nearby.

On the mall's third floor, a large deck will be available for events.

The addition will be linked to the older mall area in three places, creating a racetrack-shaped series of corridors for shoppers to navigate. The original mall amenities are being upgraded to match the new area, said Green.

"Southcenter will be one mall, not one new mall and one old," he said. - - -

John Gillie: 253-597-8663

blogs.thenewstribune.com/business