If you've walked the main corridor at East Hills Shopping Center this fall, you've probably hit the wall. It cuts the walkway in two, and the sign in front of it mentions an expo center. In the same few months, two stores that had been at the mall for decades took new addresses up the Belt, and the old Golden Corral lot down the road came down.
East Hills is being rebuilt as a place to bring people into St. Joseph for big events, and the everyday shopping that made it the east side's errand stop is moving north along Belt Highway.
The Wall Marks Where the Expo Center Grew
The project behind the wall now has a name. News-Press NOW reported on Oct. 25 that the Midcontinent Expo Center will fill the former Sears building at East Hills, with 158,844 square feet in all. That includes 85,353 square feet of exhibit space for up to 260 booths, plus nine breakout and classroom spaces.
The work started inside the old anchor store. In June, the St. Joseph Post shared photos from Madget Demolition of crews in the former Sears and in "a small portion of the nearby interior mall units," and Madget said the space would become an expo center.
Then the project got bigger. Lisa Nyrose, vice president of operations for STJ Hotel Group, told the Rotary Club of St. Joseph that once renovations began, planners decided they needed more room. That pushed the project farther into the main mall corridor. The wall separates the venue from the rest of the mall while work goes on. So the wall marks how far into the main corridor the expo space now reaches.
No opening date or operator for the Midcontinent Expo Center had been announced as of the Oct. 25 report. The article simply calls it "forthcoming."
Two Longtime Tenants Now Share a North Belt Address
While the expo center grew, two of the mall's oldest tenants left. Both landed in the same shopping center on the north end of the Belt.
| Store | Time at East Hills | New address listed |
|---|---|---|
| Topsy's Popcorn & Ice Cream | Since the 1960s | 5301 N. Belt Hwy, Suite 103, Shoppes at North Village |
| Maurices | 35 years | 5201 N. Belt Hwy, Suite Z 127, Shoppes at North Village |
KQ2 reported in September that Topsy's general manager, Rhiannan Hammett, said the company and she love the mall but called the move a business decision. They looked at many options around St. Joseph before picking the Shoppes at North Village. The new shop is in the former GameStop space between Panda Express and Nothing Bundt Cakes. KQ2 said it was expected to open in mid-October. Topsy's own store locator now lists that address with hours and a phone number.
Maurices went first. KQ2 reported in April that the store would leave East Hills after 35 years for the former Kirkland's building, with the move expected over the summer. The Maurices store page now lists the North Village location with regular hours.
So for east-side residents, the popcorn tin and the clothing store both now mean a drive north to North Village, where both stores now list their locations.
The South Belt Gets Drive-Thru Speed
The other change on this end of the Belt is happening outside the mall. In October, Madget Demolition crews tore down the old Golden Corral at 715 N. Belt Highway. News-Press NOW reported that the 1.8-acre lot will get a new Chipotle and a drive-thru coffee house. The buffet had closed in June 2023, so the lot sat empty for more than three years.
The coffee brand hadn't been named when the plan was announced, and no opening date has been given. For context, St. Joseph's first Chipotle opened in August 2005 at 5107 N. Belt Highway, back when the Shoppes at North Village were still being built.
The owner matters here. East Hills Properties, managed by Craig Realty Group under president and CEO Steve Craig, owns the old Golden Corral site and confirmed the plan. When KQ2 asked about the expo center wall in September, it reached out to both the mall and Craig Realty for comment. Steve Craig is also one of the new owners of Chase Candy Company, the 150-year-old maker of Cherry Mash. A ribbon-cutting at 1307 S. 59th St. was scheduled for Oct. 29, according to KQ2.
The Campus Is Built for Out-of-Town Crowds
The expo center is easier to understand once you see the other pieces planned around it. STJ Hotel Group is building Robidoux House at Frederick Avenue and Woodbine Road. Plans call for a 126-room hotel and the attached Robidoux Event Center, which will have a grand ballroom of more than 12,000 square feet seating 600 guests. Both are on track to open in August 2027. Nyrose described the expo center, the event center and the hotel as one "campus," and gave two examples of how groups would use it.
"A farm equipment show may only need the expo center, while events such as the National Fireworks Association convention could use all three facilities for dinners, breakout sessions and classroom space."
That's News-Press NOW's paraphrase of her Rotary talk. In the same talk she said the city council, the St. Joseph Convention and Visitors Bureau and the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce had long recognized that the city was losing larger events to Kansas City for lack of space. Her summary of the city's gap: "You already have the character, and you already have the authenticity. What you need are the facilities."
One piece of this campus is aimed at locals too. Robidoux House will have a bar and restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating. The menu is being developed by executive chef Ryan Arnold, who created the menus for the St. Joseph Country Club and for 1587 Prime in Kansas City. "I don't want anyone here to think of it as a hotel restaurant," Nyrose said. "I want you to think of it as a restaurant that happens to be in a hotel."
The council approved a resolution authorizing up to $60 million in industrial revenue bonds to help pay for the Robidoux project. The same report says St. Joseph expects nearly 1,200 hotel rooms once the projects now under construction are finished. Local leaders say that still isn't enough lodging and convention space to land larger events. The old Sears is being sized for the kind of crowds the city has been losing to Kansas City.
What East Hills Still Covers This Holiday Season
The mall stays open while the expo work goes on behind the wall. JCPenney is still in the East Hills directory. Its store page posts hours of 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. The directory also lists 33 Wax Meltz, Bennett's 1:64 Collectibles and Kerious Creations as "Coming Soon," without dates.
The mall's posted holiday schedule for this season:
- Thanksgiving, Thursday, Nov. 26: closed
- Christmas Eve, Thursday, Dec. 24: closes at 5 p.m.
- Christmas Day, Friday, Dec. 25: closed
- New Year's Eve, Thursday, Dec. 31: closes at 5 p.m.
- New Year's Day, Friday, Jan. 1, 2027: open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For shoppers, this holiday season means splitting the list. Some stops are still at East Hills, while Topsy's and Maurices now mean a run to North Village. The Belt lot where Golden Corral stood is now waiting on construction of a Chipotle and a coffee drive-thru.
When an empty anchor store becomes a convention venue and a long-vacant lot gets new tenants, people start asking what nearby homes are worth. If you live on the east side and want a current read on your home's value as these projects take shape, the team at Coder Haggard Lehr Real Estate Group follows these changes block by block. Get Your Instant Home Valuation and see where your home stands today.
