Two new hotels are planned near South Portland’s Maine Mall, but some business tenants that would be displaced aren’t happy about the project.

The shopping center at the corner of Maine Mall and Gorham roads that houses a retail strip mall, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Friendly’s will be redeveloped, adding two more multistory hotels to more than a dozen already located in the vicinity of the Portland International Jetport and the Maine Mall. 

The project will be completed in three years, with two 18-month phases, said Milan Nevajda, South Portland’s planning director. The site plan was approved by the planning board in March and the property owner has started requesting permits. 

The first hotel, which will be six stories tall and have 215 rooms, will be built on the southern part of the property in place of what is currently a parking lot and a vacant bank. 

The retail strip mall at the northern portion of the parcel will be torn down to make way for the second hotel, which will be five stories and have 157 rooms. 

The nearly 10 tenants in the strip mall will be forced to relocate.

Diem Tran, the owner of House of Nails, doesn’t plan to leave without a fight.

Tran recently signed a 10-year lease and opened her nail salon several months before New Gen Hospitality Group, which is involved in the ownership and management of Comfort Inn, Home2Suites, Townplace Suites and Spark Hotel in South Portland, purchased the nearly 12-acre parcel.

Tran was assured by the previous owners that the terms of her lease would not be impacted by the sale. 

She said she wasn’t directly told about the owner’s plans to demolish the strip mall, and only found out about it from another tenant in the plaza. Tran hasn’t received any direct communication from the owners since a meeting with the other tenants in July. 

“I’m not leaving unless I have to legally,” she said. 

She still has eight and half years left in her lease and invested her life savings into the business. When she moved into the space, there were no ceilings, and the floor was messed up, she said. Now, the space is lined with plush leather chairs, has shiny faux marble floors and smells like beauty products. 

Maine Silver and Gold started looking for a new location as soon as management heard about the redevelopment plans about a year ago. The jewelry and coin business will move into a standalone building by the Hannaford supermarket on Gorham Road that’s three times the size of its current space.

Selby Shoes Etc, a multigenerational family business, has been in the plaza for more than 30 years and in its current location for nearly 15. Jeff Lechner, the owner, said the property owner told them not to renew their lease. The shoe store is still looking for another place to land. 

Dick’s Sporting Goods has the option to continue its lease, though it may relocate to the old Sears building in the Maine Mall that it now owns, Nevajda said. 

The city has been in talks with the property owner to potentially add residential units to the lot, according to Nevajda. New Gen Hospitality did not respond to questions about these plans, or plans for the businesses that currently lease space on the property. 

Paul Adams, an employee for Selby Shoes Etc., said that he’s been working in the plaza for decades. 

His mother used to work in the Shaw’s corporate office in the plaza, and he remembers carrying his infant daughter there to visit her. He can’t believe the building is going to be torn down. 

“The area has changed a lot,” he said.