MC Sports hopes to move into its new space inside Briarwood Mall by Nov. 16, in time for the kickoff of the holiday shopping season.

While the move from its current location in the Target-anchored Oak Valley Center in Pittsfield Township was announced in early July, construction work to turn the former Briarwood movie theater into retail space must first be completed, said Ed Rix, vice president of marketing for the 80-store Grand Rapids-based chain.

The work - removing theater seats, tearing down the walls that divided the space into four theaters and leveling the sloping floors - began about a month ago and should be completed in early November, said Ida Hendrix, mall manager.

 “There’s a lot of work to be done," she said. "We’re doing some heavy lifting here.” 

The contractor is KRS Construction, Inc. out of Wixom.

The mall, owned by Simon Property Group, is covering the costs to turn it into “white box” retail space, said Hendrix, who declined to release renovation costs. MC Sports will be responsible for the build out.

Rix said MC Sports will be responsible for painting, carpet and fixtures, but that it was the mall’s responsibility to make it suitable for retail. “You expect the floor to be level, that’s a basic expectation,” he said.

The move will nearly double MC Sports’ floor space, from 12,000 square feet in the Oak Valley Center to 22,000-square-feet at Briarwood. Briarwood Dollar Movies 4 and an adjacent game room occupied the space until late June. 

The 22,000-square-feet is closer to the size of new and remodeled MC Sports stores. The expanded space will allow the store to expand its hunting and fishing lines, including firearms, Rix said. They will also expand baseball and softball, soccer and custom uniform lines.

MC Sports, which will act as a fifth anchor, will be located between JC Penney and Von Maur, on the southwest side of the mall.

In the meantime, Tom Goldberg of Oak Valley Management Company, which owns the Oak Valley Center, said there has been some interest in the space MC Sports will leave, but nothing firm. 

“We’re still combating a difficult marketplace, and we know we need sufficient time to find the right tenant,” he said. While there has been some interest in the space, there is nothing close to official, he said.

Oak Valley Management owns a number of properties in the I-94 corridor, including the Waters Place Shopping Center on Lohr Road, anchored by Borders, Kohl’s and Best Buy. 

“There are other sporting goods people looking, not necessary where MC Sports is, but in the I-94 corridor,” Goldberg said. “We believe that sporting goods is underrepresented in Ann Arbor.”