Ames residents can expect a new strip mall late this summer.

The new strip mall, called Southpoint Centre, will be located at 705 South Duff Avenue across from the South Duff Walmart.

The mall will have a main building with 17,000 square feet and a smaller building of 3,000 feet to have a total of 20,000 square feet of space for businesses.

“It’s one of the places along Duff that is going to have retail stores,” said Tiffany Coleman, director of business, development and marketing for the Ames Chamber of Commerce.

Coleman said she is excited for the new strip mall.

Southpoint Centre, built by Hunziker Realty, is in the process of signing leases and looking for other tenants.

The finalized leases include Sprint and Firehouse Subs, said Dean Hunziker, owner of Hunziker Realty. 

Hunziker Realty is currently in the process of finalizing two more leases.

These four stores will take up approximately 60 percent of the mall’s space, Hunziker said.

After the finalization of these four retail leases, the mall will still have room for four more stores.

Hunziker Reality, the company that built the Mattress Firm and Chipotle complex, will be neighboring that strip mall.

“The point being, we need more food and beverage in town, there’s a need for that. We need additional services in town. The service sector hasn’t expanded with everything else,” Hunziker said.

Hunziker said that there is less of a need for hard retail and more of a need for food and beverage in order to add to the service sector.

On top of providing a wider range of places to eat in Ames, the strip mall will provide more jobs to college students.

The mall, however, will stand out a little more than your average strip mall.

Hunziker said the mall is a Frank Lloyd Wright style and will have a little more design than strip malls around Ames.

Coleman sees the strip mall as providing more opportunities to the Duff area of Ames.

“Retail space is at a real premium in Ames,” Coleman said. “I’m mostly excited because it provides some more space.”