Part of the Sweetbriar center at 21st and Amidon is being demolished

There's some major demolition underway at the Sweetbriar shopping center at the northwest corner of 21st and Amidon, and there are a couple of reasons behind it.

The 1966 center has several strip centers within it. The one being razed is currently attached to the recently renovated Aldi store.

That store reopened in April after significant remodeling, which included an expansion into 5,000 square feet to its west where a dollar store once was. Aldi is now 20,000 square feet.

"Since they're already there and already established, it was a convenient opportunity for Aldi to expand without moving locations," says NAI Martens broker John O'Rourke.

He and colleague Nathan Farha handle leasing and marketing at the center.

O'Rourke says Aldi stores now typically are freestanding ones, and that's what this one will be when demolition is complete.

Also once the work is done, center owner Amidon 1 will have 2.5 acres of vacant land, which it either will sell or build to suit for someone. O'Rourke says that might be a user such as a storage facility or something else that doesn't need retail frontage.

A lot has changed since the center was built and retail outlets opened in the back of the development.

"Retailers back then, they didn't need a frontage location," O'Rourke says.

Things are different today.

"They want to have frontage. They want to be seen," O'Rourke says. "That's almost a must for them."

The demolition work should be done by early August.

This story was originally published May 14, 2018 at 3:12 PM with the headline "Part of the Sweetbriar center at 21st and Amidon is being demolished."