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Eastland Mall Redevelopment


DigitalSky

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That's very interesting. I'd like to see that site plan if available. Do you know what other anchors would have potentially signed onto this project?
49er beat me to talking about that mall, but had far more detail than I did. If built, the Matthews mall would have had similar anchors to Carolina Place, which explains why it didn't get past the planning stage. Ben Carter beat them to the punch in signing Belk and Ivey's, so the proposal pretty much died.
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49er beat me to talking about that mall, but had far more detail than I did. If built, the Matthews mall would have had similar anchors to Carolina Place, which explains why it didn't get past the planning stage. Ben Carter beat them to the punch in signing Belk and Ivey's, so the proposal pretty much died.

Thanks for the info. I'm truly dumbfounded that this is the first I'm ever hearing about that mall.

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Factoid about Eastland's Ice Skating rink -- while building the mall they forgot to build an access hallway/ramp/door for the lower level rink so when the Zamboni arrived they had to take it apart and bring it down piece by piece for reassmbly. I learned to skate there and played hockey in a league out of Eastland for years. I always thought the ice skating aspect of the mall was really cool.

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looks like a mistake on Sears' part, as far as I'm concerned. I don't ever even recall a mall being planned for Matthews... I know where The Arboretum is currently was originally planned as a mall before Carolina Place was built though.

Apparently their facts are a little shaky regarding other locations too. For Raleigh, it says "In 1994 Sears opened a department store in Crabtree Valley Mall." What they leave out is that Sears was an original anchor when Crabtree opened in 1972 (I know, I used to play in the clothing displays as a kid :whistling: ). The store was relocated in 1994 to its current location when the mall expanded. Ahh, details.... :rolleyes:

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Apparently their facts are a little shaky regarding other locations too. For Raleigh, it says "In 1994 Sears opened a department store in Crabtree Valley Mall." What they leave out is that Sears was an original anchor when Crabtree opened in 1972 (I know, I used to play in the clothing displays as a kid :whistling: ). The store was relocated in 1994 to its current location when the mall expanded. Ahh, details.... :rolleyes:

Yeah good eye, they need us to go back and edit that page.

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I'm not surprised by this at all. That sears store didn't make money and had a lot of problems with theft. I work at the Pineville sears part time and was told they have as many attempted thefts (caught, countless others probably not caught) in a month as we do in almost a year.

Monsoon- there is an outlet store on S. Blvd and normal sears locations in Rock Hill, Monroe, and Gastonia in addition to the ones you mentioned.

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What's next for Eastland, to be anchored by Burlington Coat Factory?

Have the small stores in the mall's interior started closing down? I know that the Belk wing was already dead before the Sears announcement, but the Burlington Coat Factory wing seemed to be pretty fully leased.

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I see that Glimcher owes $43 million on the mall, from the Observer last week.

I'd assume that (1) the small store's leases would have clauses allowing leases to be broken in case less than a certain amount of anchor space is leased, and (2) Glimcher isn't making any money on the mall's interior leases. Doesn't this point to the mall's interior very quickly being shuttered?

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You have to assume that the trolley line is functioning primarily as an economic development tool rather than a desperately needed transit line and that it will catalyze the redevelopment of the mall .

Plus the bus lines that go down Central Ave. are I believe among the most heavily used in the CATS system, regardless of Eastland- light rail would help provide capacity for a corridor that's already heavily used.

For Eastland, I do not see any developer rushing to make the mall into a "town center" or whatever. Has anyone expressed interest, other than the government?

I just looked on the Eastland Mall website and see 76 stores, plus Burlington Coat Factory and Sears, still listed. Maybe enough of them will stay on after Sears closes to make the mall somewhat lively for a while?

Edited by mallguy
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For Eastland, I do not see any developer rushing to make the mall into a "town center" or whatever. Has anyone expressed interest, other than the government?

There was some interest before the current crash. Doubtful there would be any right now. Most builders/developers are holding tight and aren't really making moves in areas they see as better or more promising much less this. There are some out there buying up sites where projects will eventually come or where others have been shelved (you'd be surprised how much is silently available for sale right now), but most sites are smaller than the Eastland site. This would be a big chuck to grab for anyone and a large project in good times and those that would want it would be limited.

Now if the gubment wanted to take it on, that's a different story, but they are going broke too. Generally it'll be a while before things like this start taking off again. But they will.

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There was some interest before the current crash. Doubtful there would be any right now. Most builders/developers are holding tight and aren't really making moves in areas they see as better or more promising much less this. There are some out there buying up sites where projects will eventually come or where others have been shelved (you'd be surprised how much is silently available for sale right now), but most sites are smaller than the Eastland site. This would be a big chuck to grab for anyone and a large project in good times and those that would want it would be limited.

Now if the gubment wanted to take it on, that's a different story, but they are going broke too. Generally it'll be a while before things like this start taking off again. But they will.

So the forecast is that the mall will just sit there, partially empty and deteriorating, for a while more?

Is there ANY new construction in that part of town, other than a strip center here and there? Those apartment complexes and most of the retail space seem to be from the '60s and '70s- built for middle-income people but deteriorating.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I'm glad that there is some positive news out of Eastland, here is video of the former ice skating rink which is now a soccer field indoors! http://www.charlotteobserver.com/420/index...edia_id=3552067

Didnt realize there was an ethnicity known as "suburbias" lol.....he forgot to mention Europeans....Europeans love Soccer!

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  • 1 month later...

Eastland's declining health has already been well discussed in this thread, but the WSJ just picked it as a poster child for the retail downturn and dying malls:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124294047987244803.html

It's more of a local-to-the-neighborhood thing rather than a city or even nationwide thing, but it deserved a mention.

Edited by nmcheese
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Great article and I find the list of prospective dying malls, based on sales per square foot, interesting- interesting that Eastridge in Gastonia is listed as one of those- it has some vacancies but has all of its anchors and is the only mall for miles- but how come Citadel Mall in Charleston is on there (thriving mall, from what I can tell) but Columbia Place and others that are missing anchors are not?

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Update: I see that more stores at Eastland have closed: Cinnabon, Radio Shack, Man Alive (wasn't it newish?), Journeys, Lids, Children's Place, etc. Sad to see even the Burlington Coat Factory wing, which was thriving with "urban" stores, now showing plenty of vacancies.

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