Eastland Mall Redevelopment

[mallguy]

public opinion on these kinds of things can tend to snowball out of control, especially when the most vocal detractors seem to be suburbanites on the outside looking in.

Agreed. I find it hilarious and upsetting that so many people in Charlotte- seem to be mostly from south Charlotte- even consider Uptown "the big, dangerous city", to be avoided out of fears of crime and, my goodness, parking hassles. Come on, compared to NYC, Uptown Charlotte is like Disneyland- it's so clean and wholesome! (and safe, like NY is now at least)

[AuLukey]

public opinion on these kinds of things can tend to snowball out of control, especially when the most vocal detractors seem to be suburbanites on the outside looking in.

I agree, though I would point the blame directly at the media for hyping up a crime-wave that did strike this area sometime between 2000 and 2006. Public opinion wouldn't have been so bad if they didn't slam the area in the reports every time about being "riddled with crime." I wonder who they'll pick on next. I remember after the fireworks uptown a few years ago that people had a negative opinion of uptown for awhile thinking that the hoodlums were running wild in the streets just waiting for their chance to strike.

Heck, my parents still tell me to "be careful" when I go to visit and mention to them that I frequently go uptown. That's coming from a lady who used to work in Gateway Village and the former One First Union. It's a shame how easily the media shapes public opinion these days.

[mallguy]

Is anything left at Eastland, with 30 days to go before closure?

[NCMike1981]

Hopefully someone will get in there before it closes and take some pics!

[DigitalSky]

Some positive news in today's Observer, http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/06/25/1523504/new-life-for-eastland.html

The owners of Plaza Fiesta want to breathe new life into Eastland Mall, catering the stores to the neighborhood making it into not only a retail center but office and cultural center as well. This should be interesting to see how it plays out.

[StevenRocks]

As long as the focus isn't solely on retail stores filling the complex, it might work.

[mallguy]

As long as the focus isn't solely on retail stores filling the complex, it might work.

Agreed. And if the new owners buy the mall for cheap enough, it should do fine. The only issue I see is that the mall, which was described as a "fixer-upper" when Glimcher originally put it up for sale, is in such poor shape that in the next few years it should require a lot of work to keep it from falling apart, and that would cost something- but if the new owners just buy it for cheap and don't put a penny into it, they could run it for a few years until it falls down and probably do OK.

[nonillogical]

i dunno, while this is certainly better than a decaying empty mall or vacant lot sitting there for a few years, i don't think it's going to be anywhere near as good for the community as some of the theoretical redevelopment plans. i don't know how likely those were though.

with some creativity it might work, but my instinct says that those multi-use promises could fall apart and what's left will be the same old mall hanging on by a thread. i hope not.

[mallguy]

I think that any large-scale, privately-funded redevelopment that would turn Eastland into an attractive and desirable complex is just not going to happen. Without government funds and coercion, what middle- to upper-income person would want to live or work at the Eastland site, given how rough the area is?

The only use I can think is low-income housing and downscale retail, and even if funds are dumped into such a redevelopment, the same crime and vacancy issues would be happening in a few years.

[StevenRocks]

I think a smaller shopping center oriented to the Central-Sharon Amity intersection would work. The rest of the land could be 'banked' until an appropriate development comes along.

[nonillogical]

I think a smaller shopping center oriented to the Central-Sharon Amity intersection would work. The rest of the land could be 'banked' until an appropriate development comes along.

i totally agree, but this news probably means that a reasonable and more urban step like that is pushed back further. i think that we'll see more of the same under this new ownership.

[StevenRocks]

If this new proposal is using the entire building, whoever this developer is needs to have some deep pockets. 1,000,000 square feet of retail space is a lot to fill and maintain, especially with the place getting little to no maintenance for years. Most times, developers have to have at least a couple of large scale anchors to make something like this work. With all the anchors walking away, it's going to take a Herculean effort to find somebody that wants to locate there.

[tozmervo]

Is anyone familiar with "La Gran Plaza," the development in Ft Worth that keeps getting cited as a precedent for what they might do for Eastland?

[mallguy]

Is anyone familiar with "La Gran Plaza," the development in Ft Worth that keeps getting cited as a precedent for what they might do for Eastland?

I did some quick research on it- formerly Seminary South Shopping Center, it had a Dillard's and some other stores that fled. It has a website, listing a Burlington Coat Factory, CVS and some regular chains and some "urban" stores. I wonder if that mall closed like Eastland, or if the regular chains and the Burlington Coat Factory were there before? It seems as if it's be much much more difficult to lure regular chains into a mall after closing it, although it does happen (100 Oaks Mall in Nashville, I am told, has seen that happen).

Interesting that the Eastland website is still up and running- showing Sears and Burlington Coat Factory as anchors:

[nashbill]

100 Oaks Mall was a failing mall that has seen a resurgence. Vanderbilt Hospital set up an out patient type service area in the mall and did a lot of remodeling. There were still stores there while they remodeled and new stores have moved in. Now the area around the mall has benifited from this and has taken on a much better atmosphere.

[mad_park]

Does anyone know what type of easements the anchor store properties have? I assume they have parking rights. Can they re-open this place w/o the anchor stores?

Seems odd that the property was split up like that...but I guess at the time the anchor tenants preferred to own rather than rent.

[StevenRocks]

The ownership arrangement at Eastland is actually pretty normal. Department store typically own their own properties at malls in order to maintain some control over the development.

[DigitalSky]

So the new owner says he plans to reopen part of the interior of the mall by Dec 2011.

I'm also confused about something, is he implying that if the interior of the mall is successful that Belk, Dillard's and Sears will actually reopen their stores at Eastland? That's what it sounds like he is saying.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/10/05/1740078/eastland-mall-could-reopen-by.html

[mallguy]

So the new owner says he plans to reopen part of the interior of the mall by Dec 2011.

I'm also confused about something, is he implying that if the interior of the mall is successful that Belk, Dillard's and Sears will actually reopen their stores at Eastland? That's what it sounds like he is saying.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/10/05/1740078/eastland-mall-could-reopen-by.html

Agreed- he is saying that, but it's just his wishful thinking.

[StevenRocks]

I can't see this plan working out over time without an anchor store.

[southslider]

^Does Plaza Fiesta have any anchors?

[mallguy]

^Does Plaza Fiesta have any anchors?

Hamrick's-- plazafiestacarolinas.com

I cannot think of a more unappealing shopping center than that for me; it was dead to the world when I went a few years ago.

[DigitalSky]

Setback for Eastland Mall... Owner wants to sell the site now, not sure who would buy it at this point: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/02/21/2079813/eastland-mall-owner-might-sell.html

[StevenRocks]

It's going to take a major effort to make Eastland viable again.

[NCMike1981]

I'm personally suprised the mall hasn't been bulldozed and a big box center of some sort built in it's place. It has been just under 10 years since I've visited the area but it seems like the commercial land would be worth something without the mall building on it. Is the area so bad that even a Wal-Mart Supercenter (for example) anchored shopping center wouldn't work? Or does it have to do with the former anchors still owning the land their stores sit on? Carolina Circle and South Square come to mind as our recent NC regional mall failures that were big boxed up....then there's North Hills but from what I hear that would be unrealistic for the site...

It would be kind of neat if the center was kept as a mall in some form but I doubt it will happen

Edited February 22, 2011 by NCMike1981