Belle Oaks Marketplace, the nearly half billion-dollar development opening in Richmond Heights’ former Richmond Town Square mall has completed the Firestone Complete Auto Care, 695 Richmond Road, which started accepting new customers on Dec. 6 The opening of Firestone was followed weeks later by the start of demolition on a store that many residents online say they remember fondly, the former Sears building that first opened in 1966. According to a Facebook post by Jeremy Kumin, a communications manager for Belle Oaks, the next steps will be grading some of the lots and that actual construction on apartments will likely take place late next year. “Construction continues inside of Meijer with only minor touches remaining on the outside like the signage and landscaping features. Lines are painted on the parking lot and though it looks almost ready to open, it will not have a Grand Opening until sometime in May,” read the Dec. 11 Facebook post. Crews start to demo part of the remaining of the former Richmond Town Square mall. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) In another update, he said that although the Sears building was the last remaining structure from the original mall that will be torn down, that one other building, Macy’s, will still be used for Belle Oaks storage. The Belle Oaks Marketplace Leasing Center, he wrote, has been built with windows installed, and will be open in the spring for people to utilize, and that the repair that had to be done earlier in the year to the former Macy’s building was nearly complete. “This was where the old Macy’s building connected to the former mall and a new exterior wall had to be constructed,” He wrote in a Dec. 11 Facebook post. “You also may have noticed that the La Fiesta building was under demolition this week and primary demolition is now complete. All that remains is clearing the debris to make way for a future outlet building to be constructed.” Crews install lights outside of Firestone, completing part of the final touches to the new building. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) Richmond Heights also approved a request for the development to split into different allotments which would separate buildings and the common space around the buildings into four different parcels. A gate marks the start of the Belle Oaks Marketplace development. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) According to Building Commissioner Bill Gallagher the split would mean they can be owned by Belle Oaks or one of their limited liability companies in order to manage the financial, insurance and maintenance requirements for the parcels. “There is also a lot split which makes common property a responsibility and that is also owned by an entity, possibly separate from the building owner,” Gallagher said during a Dec. 10 meeting. “And again, for those three reasons, they want to keep that as diversified as possible.”