Will CBL's Towne Mall become "Middletown Village"?

Wow! The Journal being proactive. Hard to believe they pulled this story together so quickly in response to the WSJ article.

Towne Mall a ‘dead mall?’
By Ed Richter
Staff Writer
9:46 PM Friday, May 22, 2009
MIDDLETOWN — While one national real estate research consulting firm has listed the Towne Mall among 84 other dead malls across the U.S. this year, it’s owner disagrees with the assessment.
According to the Wall Street Journal Online edition on Wednesday, May 22, Green Street Advisors Inc., used its database of 1,032 malls to measure sales per square foot.
According to the firm, a rule of thumb in the mall industry holds that any large enclosed mall generating sales of $250 or less is in danger of failure, the Wall Street Journal reported. The U.S. average is $381 of sales per square foot.
The listing noted that the 32-year-old, 465,451-square-foot Towne Mall, which is owned by CBL & Associates of Chattanooga, Tenn., had $207 of sales per square foot. CBL owns 16 of the 84 malls that were listed.
Towne Mall was joined by four other malls in Ohio that are closed or are dying — Columbus City Center, the Indian Mound Mall in Heath, and the New Towne Mall in New Philadelphia. According to the listing, those three malls had $227 in sales per square foot.
“Towne Mall is not a dead mall,” said CBL spokeswoman Katie Reinsmidt in a written statement issued Friday. “There are numerous quantitative and qualitative factors that go into evaluating a mall. Sales per square foot, although a part of equation, is just one component to the overall success of a center,” the statement said.
“Towne Mall continues to make a vital contribution to the overall economy in Middletown and the surrounding community and we look forward to serving our customers for many years to come,” she said.
Mike Robinette, Middletown’s economic development director, said a study to create redevelopment strategies for the mall should be completed in the next few weeks.
Robinette said a meeting was held with consultants on Friday and that none of the preliminary strategies “have it functioning as it is today,” though he declined to elaborate.
“This is a very strong site for economic activity but we need to figure out the best type of economic activity for the site to be successful,” he said. “It’s going to take time, money, collaboration and cooperation.”
Robinette said he had not seen the Wall Street Journal article but that it did not surprise him because Towne Mall has been “one of the underperforming malls in CBL’s portfolio.”
“There’s a healthy opportunity to redevelop the site and I’m confident we’ll find a re-use that will be sustainable in the long term,” he said. “There are no disagreements that the current use is not the best long term use.”
Ann Mort, co-organizer of the Middletown Pride in Action initiative, sees what’s going on at the mall as she walks there every morning.
Although a photo studio recently opened there, Mort said there are fewer stores open there.
“There’s lots of places to buy things, but I hate to see retail dollars leave Middletown,” she said. “That’s why I encourage people to shop at local stores first before going elsewhere.”
“Everyone is aware of what’s happening at the mall,” Mort said. “This is a period of reinvention in Middletown. It’s already happened three or four times in the city’s history. There’s a good, solid base of people here. We’ll survive and I don’t give up that easily.”
In May 2008, a delegation of city, county and local business leaders traveled to Las Vegas to meet with CBL representatives at the International Council of Shopping Centers convention.
Local leaders at the time stressed the importance of redeveloping Towne Mall and CBL promised a redevelopment plan with 30 days of that meeting.
Since then, the nation suffered the economic downturn that has created turmoil in many industries, particularly real estate and retail.
In January, Reinschmid said Towne Mall was “definitely not forgotten and it’s still on our radar.”
In 2007, plans were announced to redevelop Towne Mall into an open-air lifestyle center.
CBL had sought funding from Middletown and Warren County toward the $26 million project. When the city and the county balked, plans were postponed indefinitely.
Since then, many stores have closed, including Dillard’s, which opened as McAlpin’s, its original anchor store. As of January, there were about 20 stores open and 30 vacancies at the mall. The other two anchor stores, Sears and Elder-Beerman remain open.
Also, renovation plans and proposed enterprise zone and job creation tax abatements for the project have been placed on indefinite hold.