Can Madison Square Mall come back? (Huntsville: sales, lease, hotels)

[pistoG]

ten years ago Madison Square was THE mall to go to. I think it could come back with some serious reinvestment. Other opinions?

[CP79]

IMO, no. It needs to be bulldozed and redeveloped as mixed use.

[AU HSV]

Originally Posted by CP79

IMO, no. It needs to be bulldozed and redeveloped as mixed use.

agreed with an urban forest/park focus..streams waterfalls, heavily landscaped, with several high rises, couple hotels, parking deck to remove the sea of asphalt, improves access from University west bound via a flyover. Design for the pedestrians, restaurants with outdoor seating

[catfishin2000]

20 years ago, the 70's generation was having kids and we all went to MSM with our strollers and pushed our babies around. It was THE thing to do. Now it is a sad place to visit.

But...(always a butt)
Deep down I am an optimist and I hope the mall culture will return. I'm hoping it is on a cycle, they are up, they are down, back and forth. As cool as Bridgestreet is, it isn't that fun in the rain, hot, freezing, or other extreme weather. Give me a covered mall any day.

And finally, I will go where ever the man stores are: JC Penny and Sears.

[chucksnee]

Originally Posted by catfishin2000

20 years ago, the 70's generation was having kids and we all went to MSM with our strollers and pushed our babies around. It was THE thing to do. Now it is a sad place to visit.

But...(always a butt)
Deep down I am an optimist and I hope the mall culture will return. I'm hoping it is on a cycle, they are up, they are down, back and forth. As cool as Bridgestreet is, it isn't that fun in the rain, hot, freezing, or other extreme weather. Give me a covered mall any day.

And finally, I will go where ever the man stores are: JC Penny and Sears.

There were many butts there Saturday, hanging out for all to see...

[jasonhsv]

Originally Posted by pistoG

ten years ago Madison Square was THE mall to go to. I think it could come back with some serious reinvestment. Other opinions?

MSM was THE mall to go to when it was the only mall to go to. Parkway Place & Bridge Street came along and MSM never adjusted to the competition.

[SarahBellum]

Back in the late 80's when MSM was in it's heyday, it still faltered in sales compared to what was then Parkway City Mall. I worked in management at Parisian during that timeframe. While MSM had the crowds, a huge number of people were window shopping and hanging out. The Parkway City location beat the MSM location pretty much every month. We'd have great crowds and some sales at MSM, but early in the week we'd get a lot of requests to send items to PCM for customers to purchase there. Other stores might have had different results, of course, but I thought it was interesting at the time. It seemed that MSM was a social destination more than a shopping destination, especially for people who lived closer PCM.

[Tourian]

Originally Posted by jasonhsv

MSM was THE mall to go to when it was the only mall to go to. Parkway Place & Bridge Street came along and MSM never adjusted to the competition.

True, but Parkway City Mall and "The Mall" were there before MSM.

It ain't coming back. And it looks like CBL is going to try to shove all the leaseholders out the door by not having decent A/C in the summer (or heat in the winter) not having decent security and just not trying to improve anything about the place. They are holding out for Huntsville to open up the coffers and bestow them with welfare to redevelop or improve the property. The city has chosen its horse to back in Bridgestreet and until that changes, CBL is going to focus on Parkway Place and leave MSM to rot.

[pistoG]

CBL is garbage, I am starting to think.

[drh_97]

MSM is done. once it became the "place to hang" families took their business elsewhere.