Eastland Mall Secret Deal

[Metallisteve]

There are tons of ways to attempt to revitalize an area...this is just one of them. And they're all equally as costly in terms of risk and/or money.

For instance, the City could invest in a ton of infrastructure (roads, hardscape/sidewalks/landscape, mass transit/rail, etc.) to help spruce up the area. That kind of work not only takes a LONG time to do (on the order of 5+ years), it's nearly as expensive, if not more, than just buying the mall and fixing it up.

Another alternative is simply playing with planning/zoning for the area and creating a bunch of reports and plans for the area. The cost is next to nothing compared to buying the place) but the effectiveness is also next to nothing on an area that's so far gone like Eastland.

Let me pose this question: would we like to see parts of our city written off, forgotten about like, say, the slums of Chicago or Detroit? Forget about comparing the two cities...I'm talking about specific neighborhoods that are so far gone that the only viable option is to bulldoze to a flat surface and start over...which can happen in any size metro. I'd personally not like to see that happen. I'd rather see as many parts of the city shine as brightly as they can...and from the accounts of Easltand Mall of yester-year, the area has the potential to do it again.

Now to bring this thing full-circle back to the topic of whether or not the City should be buying the mall to do this...I'm on board, for now. Let's see some solid plans for what they'd do with it once bought. Let me see some effective, QUICK plans for how to do it. I don't want to hear about a 10-year plan...TOO LONG. I want to see a strict curfew imposed like Northlake to root out the thug kids. I want to see an effective surveillance and security system installed. How about a strong show of force from the police too?

It could work...but I'll admit that I have my finger on the internet veto button (like my veto means anything!) if I see it as a worthless plan.

[lumbollo]

Originally Posted by anifani821

... . the first place to start is with a careful examination of every single party who owns or has a monetary interest in Eastland . . .

This is pretty easy to find. The big property owners there are as follows:

• BELK CHARLOTTE INC AND %BELK STORES SERV, 2801 W TYVOLA RD CHARLOTTE, NC 28217-4525
• SEARS ROEBUCK & CO, 3333 BEVERLY RD HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL 60179
• EASTLAND FIELDS LLC, 7412 STONE GATE BV PARKLAND, FL[/SIZE]
• IVEY J B & COMPANY AND BILL BENDER/DILLARDS DEPT STO, 4501 N BEACH ST FORT WORTH, TX
• CHARLOTTE EASTLAND MALL LLC AND TREASURY DEPT, 150 EAST GAY ST COLUMBUS, OH

This breaks out as the 4 major anchor stores with the Eastland Mall LLC and Treasury owning the center portion. There are about 11-12 other smaller parcels located on this property as well. These are all owned by various LLC partnerships that are no doubt investments of various sorts. The Treasury has it's hands in part of this as well.

I did check to see if Harris Teeter still owned the property where they once had a store, but this could be the same parcel as that owned by Belk. There could be hundreds of individuals involved depending who is involved in these limited partnerships. Wonder what their influence might be over the local politicians.

[spankys bbq]

No amount of shiny new sidewalks is going to improve the way the people who frequent that area treat it.

I'm not at all in favor of the city buying the property. If we were better off financially, maybe. And that's a big maybe. At the moment, we have far too many other problems in this city to be worried about buying a mall that is well past its prime. What do people want the city to do with a mall? Paint it and put in a Foot Locker and a food court?

That property could be replaced with a shopping center similar to the Arboretum. I think it would look better and be much better off. The mall reputation os too damamged in my mind for it to be a good place to put a business. New buildings, new businesses, new image. Then the city might have a reason to put that street car in. Or how about something like Phlips Place? Mixed use. Commercial and residential.

Just have a developer do it, not the city.