The old Belk location in the

Banks Crossing shopping center will not be vacant much longer.

Stein Mart, a retail chain

based in Florida, will be opening a store there May 10, according to a

spokesperson at the corporate headquarters in Jacksonville.

The 40,000-sq. ft. site will

be the chain's 12th metro Atlanta location, Stein Mart director of stockholder

relations Susan Edelman said Thursday morning.

Fayetteville officials, plagued

with large empty storefronts for much of the past year, are thrilled with

the news.

"We are tremendously excited,"

said City Manager Joe Morton. "It'll be great for the shopping center."

Belk vacated its Banks Crossing

location last year to move into a new building at Fayette Pavilion.

Another large Banks Crossing

tenant, Kmart, cleared out soon afterward when that company closed a number

of its stores. Kmart has not reopened in Fayetteville.

Morton pointed to Stein Mart

and other developments, such as World Gym and Hobby Lobby recently locating

in Fayetteville Corners long after Wal-Mart and Winn Dixie left, as proof

that the retail market is picking back up in these formerly vacant areas.

The city has been active in

pursuing tenants for some of these places, and Morton said there is some

interest in the Kmart site as well as the former Roberds location, vacated

last year when that company went bankrupt.

But the city had nothing to

do with the Stein Mart move, he added.

Since Stein Mart is not constructing

a new building but is instead moving into a former retail location occupied

All store improvements are

interior and require only Building Department approval, and signs also

can be approved at the staff level, Morton said, meaning neither the City

Council nor the Planning and Zoning Commission need be involved in the

move.