Last week came and went, and still there were no new announcements of retailers coming to the redeveloped East Hills Shopping Center.

We'll admit to an occasional bout of uneasiness in these days counting down to the project's completion. However, we long ago came to grips with why multimillion-dollar tax increment financing was approved for this makeover. We were told this property would not be redeveloped unless it could benefit from the future sales tax increases.

Now, like everyone else, we wait for definitive signs that East Hills once again will prove to be a draw for shoppers across the region.

We look forward to the day when St. Joseph will boast not one, but two, signature shopping developments to complement its longstanding local retailers.

And we stand ready to calculate the economic "spillover" that is possible from hosting a more robust shopping environment.

The mall operators clearly hoped that before now they would have had something to add to their one store announcement months ago - Victoria's Secret. But they still talk of new retailers being revealed in a matter of "days," rather than weeks or months. They still talk of having a number of those retailers open in time for the Christmas shopping season.

And, significantly, anyone who has traveled the Belt Highway can see this project not only is progressing quickly, but also by all appearances meets the standard of a "major" redevelopment and repositioning of the mall in the marketplace.

We applaud the design and construction work that has transformed the exterior of the mall, leveled the parking lot and created multiple new entrances. We also recognize the important role that anchor tenant J.C. Penney occupies in this project, and note that its transformation is far along.

In all, according to Jim Harpool, whose firm is overseeing the work, the mall when fully redeveloped will welcome 35 new tenants - both stores and food vendors - plus 16 new kiosks along its corridors.

Here's hoping that his optimism is rewarded - sooner rather than later - with a series of announcements of these new tenants.