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Outlet mall near RDU sold


avery

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I eat at the outlet mall on occasion.

I see two problems with the mall as it currently is:

1) No one knows its there. They need to add some signs on the highway, or cut back some trees so people know theres a mall.

2) There are no reason to go there. The place is a ghost town. All the decent 'outlet' stores left town.

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It's a beautiful mall, although some could say it's very early '90's, I love the hardwood floors. The only thing there of substance anymore seems to be Off 5th and some shoe stores. Even the food court, which up until several years had no empty spaces, is starting to thin out...that can't be a good sign.

On a side note the article states that the mall was built in 1982 and converted to an outlet mall in 1991. If you think the mall is isolated now just think of 1982, there probably wasn't much of anything out there back then aside from a gas station or two. Anyone have any memories of the mall in it's pre-outlet days? I have never heard of the mall having traditional anchors, maybe it was more of a South Hills type mall, with mainly service stores and maybe a Roses type anchor, or some local anchor from the '80's....I'm a little intriqued

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They actually have some neat stores there. I like the Totes and Samsonite stores, and that place that sells kitchen gadgets.

They do also have the Off 5th, but I'm not too into shopping at places like that.

I'm astounded at how few people know it's there, though. I guess they must not have had an advertising budget for the past decade or so.

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I go there for lunch once in a while. There are only six places open in the food court (greek fiesta, subway, cheesesteak and hamburgers, cajun, chinese, and ice cream/coffee/snacks) left, and all are typical food court level of food. There is a sign for a new tenant in the food court, but it doesn't look like they're in a hurry to open.

Almost all tenants are on the main axis of the mall. It has two cross aisles, but other than Off 5th, they're all empty. There are a few ok stores - totes, rack room, van heusen (?), but some are filler, like the SPCA and book warehouse/publisher overstock stores.

There is a sign visible from 40, but it is above the tree line, and therefore out of view. When the Levis/Dockers outlet closed, they said they did a lot better business in Smithfield, and a good amount of their business came from travelers killing time before catching their plane at RDU. It never did well because the major residential centers have malls closer to them. And parking isn't well laid out. You have to use stairs to get to the mall from the west or south, cross a street and stream to enter the food court from the north, or enter through Off 5th from the east.

They could try reinventing it as a movie/restaurant/entertainment destination (ice or roller skating, indoor soccer/basketball, swimming?), but that would take a lot of work.

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On a side note the article states that the mall was built in 1982 and converted to an outlet mall in 1991. If you think the mall is isolated now just think of 1982, there probably wasn't much of anything out there back then aside from a gas station or two. Anyone have any memories of the mall in it's pre-outlet days?

I have lived here a long time and remember when it was built. It was a mall a few steps above South Hills but I don

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  • 1 month later...

New owners going upscale at Prime Outlets mall

Apparantely half of the mall will be demolished to make way for a hotel and office building but Saks and part of the mall will remain. The Saks outlet has a lease until 2011 and says it is happy with the location, but one must wonder how well this new plan is going to work in the long run...

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  • 4 years later...

So it appears as if things have been status qou at the Morrisville Outlet Mall. The previously mentioned demolition/rebuild never occured, probably due to the economy. Interesting to note per the above comments that Off 5th's lease is expiring this year...wonder if they are planning on renewing. I think if they left the mall would officially close shortly thereafter. Here are several pics of the Saks Outlet:

Picture002.jpg

Picture001.jpg

Thoughts as to the future of this center? Any recent updates on redevelopment?

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  • 9 months later...

Looks like Off 5th is not renewing their lease and will be closing as of 1/1/2012, citing "redundancy" as the Mebane store is located "nearby" (about 50 miles west). I personally think they were just biding their time until their lease expired.

http://blogs.newsobs...-in-morrisville

I have a feeling the mall will officially die now within a year or two now that it is anchorless...and once the economy gets back in full swing it will probably be torn down and replaced with.....ummmmmm I'm not sure what. I don't know if a lifestyle center would work there....maybe some office buildings, hotels, restaurants?

Or who knows maybe a miracle will happen and an anchor will be found, although that is probably unlikely....

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This is area seems to be best suited to light industrial, and warehouse type stuff like already on and around Aviation, Airport and Evans. Proximity to the airport and Interstate and a lack of nearby housing or other retail draw does indeed seem to spell the demise of this spot as a mall.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just wanted to post a picture from the mall's homepage:

www.themorrisvilleoutletmall.com

This is the only pic of the mall on their website, and thought it was worth saving as the mall, which has long struggled, is facing an uncertain future when Off 5th closes 1/1/2012 and leaves the mall anchorless...As a side note I think it's rather amusing that the "model" in the pic appears to be covering up an empty storefront in the pic of center court...

post-3026-0-65757000-1321505461_thumb.jp

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