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Burlington Square Mall Faces Foreclosure


ILoveCallingNCHome

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Here is a link to an article in the Burlington Times News discussing the future of the mall. The articles talks about the rich history of the mall and how it came to be what it is today. I remember as a youth people always would say if Holly Hill Mall wouldn't expand it would be replaced one day by a more desireable mall. The article does mention major redevelopment including razing the mall completely and starting from scratch which I have mentioned on Urban Planet before in the past.

The million-dollar question, Whats next for Burlington Square Mall

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I seem to recall hearing some rumors last year that Sears was going to move to the K-Mart building. The K-Mart's gone from a Super K to just a regular ol' K-Mart now, and the last couple of times I've gone in, I see plenty of "clearance" sale signs, so much so to the point where it looks almost as if like they're just trying to get rid of inventory. Any truth to the Sears rumor?

Yeah this Kmart, like the one in Greensboro, has downsized from Super K Center to just regular Kmart. Don't know about the Sears rumor though, but can't rule that out of the question. Originally when Sears and Kmart merged, I figured the Kmart in both Greensboro and Burlington would become Sears Grand stores and the subsequent Sears stores would close - which obviously hasn't happened... so don't know now.

Here is a link to an article in the Burlington Times News discussing the future of the mall. The articles talks about the rich history of the mall and how it came to be what it is today. I remember as a youth people always would say if Holly Hill Mall wouldn't expand it would be replaced one day by a more desireable mall. The article does mention major redevelopment including razing the mall completely and starting from scratch which I have mentioned on Urban Planet before in the past.

The million-dollar question, Whats next for Burlington Square Mall

That's a very interesting article and good insight into the mall's history. I think it is interesting the tenants that people want to have come in, Kohl's and a bit more upscale Macy's. Kohl's is coming to Alamance Crossing as I saw in that thread, so that won't happen, and I don't know if the demographics/competition/economy is right for Macy's to come in.

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I'm not entirely familiar with zoning rules, but is there any chance at all that the area currently occupied by the mall would be big enough for a 6th-12th grade campus, since I know that ABSS is looking at a new campus to alleviate the over-enrollment at Western Middle and High, Turrentine, and Williams?

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  • 9 months later...

Drove by the mall today (Sunday about 5 pm) and the place looked just about deserted, aside from people parked around Sears. The only other exterior signage I saw was for Chick-fil-a, it appears as if Books A Million threw in the towel as well. I didn't get the chance to stop in, which is a shame b/c I so rarely get the opportunity to get to Burlington. Anyone have any interior updates? I can't imagine it looks too good in there...

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Drove by the mall today (Sunday about 5 pm) and the place looked just about deserted, aside from people parked around Sears. The only other exterior signage I saw was for Chick-fil-a, it appears as if Books A Million threw in the towel as well. I didn't get the chance to stop in, which is a shame b/c I so rarely get the opportunity to get to Burlington. Anyone have any interior updates? I can't imagine it looks too good in there...

I doubt the mall will survive for very much longer. I would imagine that the prospect of redevelopment of that land now outweighs the long term profitability of the mall in the face of competition from Alamance Crossing. And with Tanger building a new outlet center no too far away, It's just hard to imagine that the mall can rebound.

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I'm not entirely familiar with zoning rules, but is there any chance at all that the area currently occupied by the mall would be big enough for a 6th-12th grade campus, since I know that ABSS is looking at a new campus to alleviate the over-enrollment at Western Middle and High, Turrentine, and Williams?

Thats a great idea. ABSS is looking to build a new middle school/high school and this location would be perfect. In the past I have wanted to see this site plus the Kmart site redeveloped into a "downtown west Burlington" with a western ACC campus, street facing retail, high density residential, and a small park.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thats a great idea. ABSS is looking to build a new middle school/high school and this location would be perfect. In the past I have wanted to see this site plus the Kmart site redeveloped into a "downtown west Burlington" with a western ACC campus, street facing retail, high density residential, and a small park.

A school campus there would be magnificent. Is the liquor store on S. Church by the bowling alley located far enough away, though? If I recall correctly, don't school zones have to be free of such establishments?

In this week's news, Trailhead Church was featured as having relocated to the old Gold's Gym space in the mall, and there was some mention in the article of the mall's management looking to include non-traditional mall tenants.

Church finds new home at Burlington Square Mall

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  • 3 months later...

Wow so it'll go full circle and become Holly Hill again. I think what the mall needs desperately is at least 1 new anchor. To me the Belk store would probably be the best canidate as it is such a prominant location, the J.C. Penney's was always tiny with a tucked away location. I noted in the story that apparantely a national clothing store has signed a letter of intent...which leads one to wonder which national clothing store. The question is are there any dept stores that are already not located in Burlington that would be willing to open a store in Burlington.....especially on a road that used to be the focal point for retail in town but has become sort of second string as of late. Realistically speaking I think the most that could be hoped for is a "B" level anchor like maybe Burlington Coat Factory or maybe Roses (they've been making a comeback and recently opened as an anchor in the mall in Wilson I believe). Maybe then the mall could sort of carry on as a mix of local stores with a few chains thrown in. I just hope that "Dave's Discount Furniture" doesn't open as an anchor haha. Dare we imagine Macys could be the hinted store to locate in the 90k sq foot Belk building? Maybe if the owners gave them the building for free or dirt cheap :-/

Hopefully something can be done to keep "Holly Hill Mall" from becoming a mini Eastland.

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  • 3 weeks later...

especially on a road that used to be the focal point for retail in town but has become sort of second string as of late.

I second that. I've only lived in this city for 4 years, but in those 4 years alone, I've seen Huffman Mill Road slowly but surely fizzling. The most evident non-Mall related sign of that for me was when McDonald's and Chic-Fil-A decided to open up new outlets that were more visible from the interstate down on University. I'm guessing that Burger King is also going ahead and doing the same.

I just moved to a house off Mebane Road, and I now know firsthand why longtime locals who have been saying the widening project along Mebane is 15-20 years too late have been saying that. The road is essentially dead after 8:00 every night, even on weekends, and it's not as if there's a real need to create more asphalt on that road to help with traffic flow.

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  • 1 month later...

So I was bored Saturday and decided to head out to Burlington to check out Hobby Lobby's closest store to the Raleigh area (as a side note I was pleasantly suprised by the store and hope they continue spreading east). Well Hobby Lobby is in Alamance Crossing, and as my first experience either looking for Hobby Lobby or going to Alamance Crossing I found the shopping area disconnected. I mean there's this one section closest to University Parkway with the big sign facing 85/40, but the main section is actually like a 1/4-1/2 mile down this 4 lane road surrounded by undeveloped land. I'm assuming all the land will eventually be developed. Once I got to the main area and was meandering about in my car trying to find the store I found Alamance Crossing to be pretty nice but kind of spread out. It reminded me of a more sprawly version of North Hills.

I decided to stop at the old mall before I headed back to Raleigh since I hardly ever get out that way anymore. I hadnt been inside the mall since before the mass exodus and it really is quite sad. The mall inside still looks great from the remodel a few years ago but the inline stores are easily 50% vacant, not counting the larger vacancies (Belk, JCPenney, Books a Million, Goodys). The food court was completely dark which isnt suprising as it always seemed to have vacancy issues even when the mall was healthy. There were still a few chain stores hanging on in there such as Aeropostale, Chick-fil-A, Claire's, Gamestop, Journeys, Foot Locker, GNC/Radio Shack, Kay Jewelers and of course Sears, but aside from that it was mainly local mom and pops. The signs of the mass exodus are still obvious as the vacancies arent yet clustered in one or more areas but they seem to be spread out evenly along the mall corridor. Also it's a labelscar lovers dream in there as well. I really hope they are able to do something before all of the chains give up and throw in the towel. It's really such a nice little mall inside (if you can look beyond all the dark storefronts).

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  • 2 weeks later...

There was an update May 7th regarding BSM/Holly Hill:

Local owners take possession of Burlington mall

The real highlight of the article was the mention of some new stores coming to the mall: Hursey’s Barbecue, The Main Event, an upscale sports-themed restaurant based out of New York that features sports memorabilia, a nail salon and spa chain with locations around North Carolina, Salon Sapphire, a nine-booth hair salon and Clear Wireless Internet. There was also a note by the new owners that they were preparing to sign about 7 more leases over the next two weeks. It appears as if upon reviewing comments alot of people in Burlington are really rooting for the mall, seems like alot of folks are attached to it as it's been sort of the center of town for 41 years. I think the really big hurdle for the mall to overcome is to get at least one decent national anchor in the Belk, which may be a challenge as I don't think Burlington has the best demographics/economy of the area. I'm noticing alot of folks hoping for Macy's as it's about the only middle of the road dept store not already located in Burlington although I'm thinking realistically speaking if they snag anything it may be like a Roses or Burlington Coat Factory. We could always be suprised by maybe like a Bass Pro Shops, Whole Foods, or Sams/Costco/BJ's although I dunno if there's enough land for one of those stores and also I doubt they'd have a mall entrance so it wouldnt help the interior of the mall much.

Also as a side note I read a comment by someone that the Chick Fil A that is still holding out in the mall was the first Chick fil a in NC. I haven't bothered trying to confirm that but just thought I'd pass it along.

Thoughts? Theories? Inside Info?

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  • 5 months later...
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Well I'll be, looks like they got an anchor to take the former Belk space: Dunham's Sports is taking up all of the 89,000 sq foot former Belk:

http://www.bizjourna...-to-become.html

a list of the current mall directory....looks like the mall is far from dead, although many stores seem to be local it's better then having a dead mall:

http://www.hollyhill...mall-directory/

They seem to be doing pretty good as they have now filled the former Belk and JCPenney spaces. as a side note Burlington Coat Factory almost located in the space but it looks like the mall chose Dunham's instead. I'm not familiar with the chain but I'm picturing a Dicks Sporting Goods type place...it appears as if this will be the first store in the state for the chain...

http://www.dunhamssports.com/

Perhaps Holly Hill can lure a few more chains back with the anchors filled....at least a Bath and Body Works or something lol

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  • 6 months later...

Dunham's opens this weekend, and according to The Times-News, there are several other vendors waiting in line to see how successful Dunham's is before making the plunge into Holly Hill's remaining spaces.

Now, if they'd just clean up that darned Hibachi buffet and offer a few more options.....would it kill this city to have some quality Chinese food?

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