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It’s disgusting that a body had been desomposing for two weeks near a food court. This will give GPM the publicity that is does not need.
As already mentioned, Moonbeam sounds like one of those sketch, last chance property management that won’t do anything brave or innovatative to improve their properties. The best thing that could happen besides them turning it around is if GPM just shutters and is torn down to make way for a clean design mixed use or open air development.
Officials love to pass the buck and say they can't do anything since the mall is privately owned. To that, I say there's PLENTY you can do. Just walk around the mall and you will see tons of safety and code violations. The lights don't even work in the parking lot and it's pitch black after dark. If the county wanted to, they could go and write citation after citation and fine the hell out of the owners until they either do something or give up and sell the property. Is there not a fine for having a decomposing body on your property????
It’s disgusting that a body had been desomposing for two weeks near a food court. This will give GPM the publicity that is does not need.
As already mentioned, Moonbeam sounds like one of those sketch, last chance property management that won’t do anything brave or innovatative to improve their properties. The best thing that could happen besides them turning it around is if GPM just shutters and is torn down to make way for a clean design mixed use or open air development.
If anything, this incident will hasten the closing date of Gwinnett Place Mall.
It’s disgusting that a body had been desomposing for two weeks near a food court. This will give GPM the publicity that is does not need.
Yeah, it is pretty disgusting that a body had been decomposing for 2 weeks near a food court without being discovered.
Though, unfortunately, I don't think that it even really matters that Gwinnett Place Mall (or what's left of it) is receiving bad publicity from this incident because it's not like there is still much of a customer base remaining to be harmed anyways.
The dead body decomposing for 2 weeks inside of an abandoned Subway sandwich shop space is pretty much emblematic of where the mall is in its existence right now.
Heck, even with the bad press and bad publicity that the mall is getting from this incident, it is still much more publicity than the mall would have received otherwise in this apocalyptic bricks-and-mortar retail environment, which is no press and no publicity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Soccernerd
As already mentioned, Moonbeam sounds like one of those sketch, last chance property management that won’t do anything brave or innovatative to improve their properties.
Moonbeam is what you describe and (in this situation with Gwinnett Place Mall) worse.
Moonbeam is basically just a large hedge fund that makes money by buying non-performing real estate notes to place in a portfolio to attract capital from international investors.
To a corporate entity like Moonbeam, a property like Gwinnett Place Mall is basically just a line on a spreadsheet that they will hold onto until such time that they decide they can make a meaningful profit by disposing of it in some way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Soccernerd
The best thing that could happen besides them turning it around is if GPM just shutters and is torn down to make way for a clean design mixed use or open air development.
Your comments raise an important point that the closing and demolition of Gwinnett Place Mall in the not-too-distant future is an increasingly real possibility in this apocalyptic market environment for bricks-and-mortar retail.
Though with the market contraction in bricks-and-mortar retail seeming to be worse than expected or anticipated (over 8,000 retail outlets are reported to have closed nationally during the 2017 calendar year in an ongoing and escalating event that is being referred to as a 'retail apocalypse'), it's not certain that retail would be viable in any meaningful way on the Gwinnett Place Mall property after the existing mall structure were to be demolished.
A turn-around of the existing Gwinnett Place Mall structure more than likely is completely out of the question at this point in time.
That's because the architecture and layout of the existing GPM structure is dated to a different era (the mid-1980's) and a physical retail footprint model (roughly about 200 or so retail storefronts in an enclosed structure anchored by 5 large department stores) that is no longer viable in this day-and-age of dramatically different market demands driven by the explosion and takeover of online retail and a Millennial generation with dramatically different spending habits.
What amazes me is that Macy's and Sears are reported to still have stores open at Gwinnett Place Mall. That's because Macy's (like hundreds of other bricks-and-mortar retailers) is in a state of significant to severe contraction of their national bricks-and-mortar retail footprint while Sears has been hemorrhaging cash for several years and appears to be very close to the very end of its existence as a corporate entity.
It's tough to accept for those of us who remember just how popular and hot and in-demand a property like Gwinnett Place Mall and surrounding area was after it opened back in the 1980's. But we've got no choice but to accept that the end is very near in this 'end-times' environment for many bricks-and-mortar retailers.
Seeing that Macy's and Sear's are definitely NOT RELUCTANT to close under performing stores and certainly NOT RELUCTANT to close stores that are losing money, one can safely assume BOTH of these stores are are net money makers for their respected companies. True, Mall of Georgia probably effectively killed Gwinnett Place, but there still is an obvious need for retail in Central Gwinnett, just not as much of it.
One has to wonder what Gwinnett Place would be like now without Mall of Georgia up the interstate. If the newer mall had never been built, Gwinnett Place would probably be the thriving retail nucleus of a fast approaching one million people Gwinnett County. Of course this question HAS been asked before. (If Lenox Square/ Phipps Plaza had never been built would Atlanta still have a strong Downtown Shopping district a'la Chicago, San Francisco, etc; if Town Center had never been built would Cumberland still be the "A-list" mall in the Northwest Metro; if Cumberland Mall had never been built, would Cobb Center still be the number shopping center in Cobb County.............on and on and so forth.)
Another thing I feel I must point out. Gwinnett Place is basically vacant except for a few department stores. People put other area malls that are fairly teeming with life with few vacancies: Northlake, Southlake, South Dekalb, Greenbriar, etc. into the same bucket as Gwinnett Place. This is disingenuous. I have on here noticed that some people have even put North Point on the "dying mall list" with in fact is down right comical. The only other all anywhere close to as much peril as Gwinnett Place may be North Dekalb since the closing of their Rich's (Macy's) store, and even they have TONS more of open store fronts than Gwinnett. I say this to point out that Gwinnett Place is (at least so far) a unique happening in Metro Atlanta retail: a total collapse of a once A-list mall. Gwinnett Place seems to be the "Detroit" of Metro Atlanta shopping malls. Well, Detroit has reorganized and has started a long difficult climb out of the abyss starting at its core. Perhaps Gwinnett Place will, too.
True, Mall of Georgia probably effectively killed Gwinnett Place, but there still is an obvious need for retail inOne has to wonder what Gwinnett Place would be like now without Mall of Georgia up the interstate. If the newer mall had never been built, Gwinnett Place would probably be the thriving retail nucleus of a fast approaching one million people Gwinnett County. Of course this question HAS been asked before. (If Lenox Square/ Phipps Plaza had never been built would Atlanta still have a strong Downtown Shopping district a'la Chicago, San Francisco, etc; if Town Center had never been built would Cumberland still be the "A-list" mall in the Northwest Metro; if Cumberland Mall had never been built, would Cobb Center still be the number shopping center in Cobb County.............on and on and so forth.)
I don’t know this for sure, but I’d imagine the 20 mile or so radius from Downtown Atlanta was one of the last areas in the metro to suburbanize during the white flight/post WWII era. Gwinnett Place Mall would have been the height of the enclosed super regional mall era that was supported by middle to upper middle class Americans.
Gwinnett County's rapid growth during the 80s and 90s shifted development from along 85 in the western part of the county further to the northeast. The targeted demographic moved further out as well. Places like Mall of Georgia became the GPM of the 2000s and 2010s.
During the 2010s, I believe there has been a focus on walkable development and work/life balance that has made long commutes unpopular and perhaps impossible especially in traffic choked Atlanta. Atlanta can no longer support low density development 50 miles out. I predict that most of Metro Atlanta's growth will be higher density TOD ITP (unless they really start building new freeways). Atlanta will develop more like SFO or Chicago as opposed to DFW or Houston. Suburbanization has reached a limit in Atlanta. This will prevent the opening of a super regional mall that will replace MofG.
Sorry. I got a little bit off track. As long as the area around GPM doesn’t become blighted or there aren't murders or gang activity in the mall, then there’s still hope. In STL, numerous malls in first and second ring suburbs have been demolished because of this.
I don’t know this for sure, but I’d imagine the 20 mile or so radius from Downtown Atlanta was one of the last areas in the metro to suburbanize during the white flight/post WWII era. Gwinnett Place Mall would have been the height of the enclosed super regional mall era that was supported by middle to upper middle class Americans.
Gwinnett County's rapid growth during the 80s and 90s shifted development from along 85 in the western part of the county further to the northeast. The targeted demographic moved further out as well. Places like Mall of Georgia became the GPM of the 2000s and 2010s.
During the 2010s, I believe there has been a focus on walkable development and work/life balance that has made long commutes unpopular and perhaps impossible especially in traffic choked Atlanta. Atlanta can no longer support low density development 50 miles out. I predict that most of Metro Atlanta's growth will be higher density TOD ITP (unless they really start building new freeways). Atlanta will develop more like SFO or Chicago as opposed to DFW or Houston. Suburbanization has reached a limit in Atlanta. This will prevent the opening of a super regional mall that will replace MofG.
Sorry. I got a little bit off track. As long as the area around GPM doesn’t become blighted or there aren't murders or gang activity in the mall, then there’s still hope. In STL, numerous malls in first and second ring suburbs have been demolished because of this.
What you write above is true in theory. Considering that, the problem is that Gwinnett County was massively over-retailed--well above the typical norm of the era.
In other words, the Mall of Georgia should've never been built.
You are moving to East Cobb. Town Center Mall and Barrett Parkway Area is the exact twin of Gwinnett Place Mall and the Gwinnett Place Area. The building of Mall of Georgia would be like if they had built a similar-sized mall up in Cherokee, Bartow, or far northwest Cobb. Cobb, Cherokee, Bartow, and Paulding could not've supported both.
This is what happened to Gwinnett Place Mall. The same thing would've happened to Town Center Mall (and thank gods it did not).
Here is an article that underscores just how savage of a market environment that malls like Gwinnett Place and their retail tenants will be operating in in 2018...
More stores could be closing across the U.S. than we ever read about, leaving malls with even bigger gaps to fill.
Out of the roughly 2,500 stores that closed in U.S. malls over the past year, excluding department stores, about 980 weren't publicly announced, according to a new report from real estate-research group Green Street Advisors. That list includes names like Stride Rite, Hallmark, Claire's and Men's Wearhouse, the firm found.
More companies are choosing to silently shutter their doors by letting their leases terminate, thereby escaping any public mess, Jim Sullivan, president of Green Street's advisory group, told CNBC.
I actually was in that area last week for work, and went to the LAF in the area...The mall still had a GNC in there, and it got me thinking. How is this mall DEAD. Like, super DEAD? Aside from Mall of GA which is far north and Sugarloaf Mills which has a totally different style of retail, the next "actual" mall in line is Perimeter. So from Spaghetti Junction to Exit 104, there is no mall.
I strolled in that Mega Mart and was actually surprised. It's a pretty descent store. They had a really good restaurant in there that made your typical fares (Fried rice, Ramen bowls, sushi, etc).... They even had a bakery in there... Anyway, I hope they get aggressive and figure it out. They could reduce the size of the mall, give it an outdoor/indoor shopping experience, connect it to Marta and make it like an International Food Hall. It would make more sense as the international feel is organic to Gwinnett. The mall would be busy because it would serve as a transit hub...I think that would be a great idea.... But we'll see if that idea even comes close. As for Sugarloaf Mills, they better get that mall together too, because I'm tired of seeing random stores like "pottery painting" and "laser tags". Being by the arena and the wealthiest intersection in the county (Sugarloaf & Satellite) they need to densify that area a bit and make it a bit more hip. Then that mall could support arena traffic with better retail options and more outlet style boutique shopping. Even some better dining. Papadeux is coming but I always thought they'd have more restaurants for tourists.
Before I got into real estate there was a very interesting article in the Daily post (years ago), comparing Gwinnett to the DMV's Fairfax county. They have Tysons Corner and we have, well, Gwinnett Place. The only thing is, we are losing, and Fairfax county made the necessary changes to remain competitive. They are now in their second phase of transforming the Tysons corner area and to me Gwinnett is still shocked at what it has become, rather than what they have become, and now what they can do... I don't think we have the right leadership for such a massive and iconic commercial district.
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