ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — Construction has been completed on the Dollar Tree building at the corner of Alabama 59 and Media Drive and should be open by the end of the year, according to officials.

Demolition of the former Gulf Coast Media offices and construction of the new Dollar Tree building began in July and finished ahead of schedule, according to a representative with TerMac Construction Inc. of Mobile, which handled both projects.

The 9,500 square-foot facility was originally set to open in January 2017. David Kilcrease, building inspector for the city of Robertsdale, said the construction inspection for the building was signed off on Dec. 9.

“As far as I know the plan was to open before Christmas,” said Birmingham developer Le Rogers, who is also leasing a 1,500-square-foot facility on the north end of the facility known as Media Retail Plaza. “It should definitely be open by the end of the year.”

In an interview on Monday, Rogers said he was in the process of signing a lease for the additional space, which will house a retail outlet, which should open during the first quarter of 2017.

“We should be able to release the details by the end of the week,” he said.

In a July interview, Robertsdale Mayor Charles Murphy said the new Dollar Tree store is part of $15 million in commercial development to come to the area in the last four years.

“Anytime you can get commercial development into the area it can only help the residents of our community,” he said. “It just shows that the corporate world sees Robertsdale and the surrounding area as a viable asset for them.”

All Baldwin County offices of Gulf Coast Media were moved to a centralized location at 901 N. McKenzie St. in Foley in June of last year. GCM currently operates four weekly newspapers, The Onlooker, serving north, central and south Baldwin County, The Islander, serving Pleasure Island, and The Courier, serving the Eastern Shore, published every Wednesday; along with the county-wide Friday publication, The Baldwin Times.

Based in Chesapeake, Virginia, Dollar Tree first opened as Only $1.00 with just five stores in 1986, adopting the Dollar Tree name in 1993 before going public on the NASDAQ exchange in 1995.

Dollar Tree opened its 5,000th store in 2014 and, following the acquisition of the Charlotte, North Carolina-based Family Dollar in 2015, the Fortune 500 Company now operates more than 13,600 stores across 48 states and five Canadian provinces.

Locally, Dollar Tree operates stores in Bay Minette, Foley, Fairhope, Daphne and Gulf Shores, with Family Dollar stores in Loxley, Foley, Magnolia Springs, Lillian and Gulf Shores. For more information visit dollartree.com.