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No new leases have been announced for Laurel Mall, renamed Town Centre at Laurel, but agreements for tenants that residents have heard about for some time have been officially finalized and the project's construction is said to be on track.

With a collective sigh of relief and the swing of a crowbar, the demolition of the biggest eyesore in Laurel finally began this week. Laurel Mall, which has maintained a large footprint on Route 1 for more than 30 years and lately has fallen into disrepair, is finally coming down, to be replaced with this century's version of the shopping mall: An open-air grouping of stylishly designed, free-standing buildings that face a tree-lined parking area.

After going through ownership changes, scrubbed designs and, to the chagrin of local officials and residents, being several years behind its promised construction schedule, the $130 million makeover of the now-closed Laurel Mall is finally happening.

In a letter to the editor of the Laurel Leader, a resident writes that news of a redevelopment ground breaking at Laurel Mall is not worth getting excited about, and that elected officials should be held accountable for delays in the mall's upgrade.

Developers of the now-closed Laurel Mall will hold an invitation-only groundbreaking ceremony Aug. 14 to mark the beginning of their plans to demolish the mall and remake it as an open, town-center style shopping plaza called Towne Centre at Laurel, officials with Greenberg Gibbons Commercial announced Aug. 1.

The Laurel Mall has been desolate for years. Empty stores have long outnumbered those still full with tenants and the majority of customers have since found other places to conduct their shopping. But the mall did not officially close until May 1.