In response, Mayor Ron Swegles and Vice Mayor Otto Lee met with project manager Jane Vaughan on Feb. 22 to get an update.

The project is slated to include 1 million square feet of retail space, almost 250,000 square feet of office space, almost 300 new homes and a movie theater. But rumor had it the Forum Development Group was planning to turn the project into an all-residential complex.

"That was the issue we wanted to clarify with her," Swegles said, "because the city is not receptive to that idea."

Vaughan told The Sun that the rumors were unfounded and that, other than some changes to the housing and office numbers, the proposed amount of retail space was not going to change.

Swegles said that he and Vaughan discussed several changes to the proposed project, including the possibility of adding a hotel or grocery store. There was also talk of lowering the movie complex from the third story to a second-story location.

However, no decisions have been made on these proposals.

The rumor began circulating around Sunnyvale after the project met with more delays.

Demolition phase two, which was set to begin at the end of the holiday shopping season in early January, has been set back to at least March. Vaughan said the Forum Development Group is negotiating with Target and Macy's, the two remaining stores in the mall structure, to get their approval of the demolition plans. Vaughan said she could not share specifics of the ongoing discussions.

"Trying to get two elephants to move is always difficult," Vaughan said.