The Atlanta-based company that has bought the vacant property has a list of other equally distressed and empty properties offered for sale or rent...including a former Food World site in Selma with an active CVS store for $695,000, and the Demopolis Towne Center for almost $2.4 Million. The purchase of the Montgomery property is a "done-deal" Blue Ridge Capital says. They've also purchased a Firestone Store and a BP Gas Station near the mall. They don't say how much they paid for the properties. The Mall was purchased in July of 1998 by Glimcher Realty Trust for $70-Million. Jim Wilson, former owner of the Mall once told me he heard Gimcher purchased the mall sight unseen. I don't know how much they got for it when they sold to a Dothan investor a couple of years ago, but I guarantee it wasn't $70-Million.
According to WSFA-TV, the new owners will be in town on Wednesday to discuss their plans for the property. In an interview with the station, Mayor Todd Strange listed a number of possible uses for the mall, virtually of them government projects, which don't bring in any tax revenue. He mentioned some food court or other retail being located in the building once the government entities move in. Strange uses the word "revitalization" to describe the events.
The beginning of the end for the Mall, in my opinion, was the night the management called police to encircle the property in a huge roadblocking operation. All drivers were required to show proof of insurance and licenses. No matter what the problems at the mall were, it was about the dumbest decision since New Coke and the Edsel.The final straw might have been an appearance by rapper Ludacris in December of 2004. He was forced to leave after fighting broke out and police couldn't control the crowd.
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