General Growth Properties, the Chicago-based development company that owns the Wayne mall, said Thursday that work on a two-year, multi-million-dollar project will begin June 15. The renovations will not change the structure of the mall, or add any additional space to the 1.5-million-square-foot center, but will give it a fresher look and more modern amenities.

A key part of the project will be a redesigned food court, mall officials said.

This is the first renovation project at the mall since 2004, when the previous owner gave it an interior and exterior facelift. General Growth did not reveal the estimated cost for this renovation, but it is expected to exceed the $10 million budget for the previous renovation.

The project will allow Willowbrook, the fourth largest mall in New Jersey, to add some of the design features malls across the country are using to give their spaces a fresher look. One of those changes will be a section of “streetscape” facades in one wing of the mall - two-story storefronts that create a more open feel of a city street, rather than a boxier, less-open, suburban mall corridor.

“We’re going to be raising storefronts, just as if you’re in Manhattan, with grand storefronts that have a great presence in that wing”, which will branch off the center court of the mall, said Gilbert Bankston, senior general manager of Willowbrook.

Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, the state’s largest mall, used a similar design approach when it added a wing of stores last year.

Bankston said the remodeling work will be done at night and will not require any parts of the mall to be closed to shoppers during construction. “The customer gets to come in every morning and see what we’ve done the night before, but they’re not inconvenienced in any way,” Bankston said.

The mall’s food court will get new furniture, fixtures and flooring. The lighting, ceilings, and columns also will be replaced. The layout of the food court will not be changed, Bankston said.

The plans call for drop ceilings in the Sears and Macy’s wings to be removed and replaced with curved, raised ceilings, to create a more open, spacious feel.

Additonal seating areas, and digital device charging stations will be added throughout the mall. Bankston said the renovation’s focus is making the mall more comfortable for “today’s multi-tasking consumer.”

The mall had its first major expansion in 1988, when the food court was added. In 1997 the Lord & Taylor store was added to the mall.

The two-year project will be completed in two stages. The first stage will include the food court redesign, and the new ceilings in the Sears and Macy’s wings and is scheduled to be completed this fall, before the holiday shopping rush. The streetscape wing with the two-story facades is expected to be completed by the 2016 holiday season.

Willowbrook is Passaic County’s premium mall, and it has success attracting prime retail tenants in recent years, including sought-after technology retailers. It has an Apple store, and a Microsoft store will open there June 13.

Email: verdon@northjersey.com