Ken Turner's Commentary

Macon Mall was acquired by Hull Storey Gibson in September 2010. That month the owner announced the demolition of the old Dillard's and Parisian buildings for early 2011. On September 21, 2010 Hull Storey Gibson ordered remaining tenants in the largely empty wing, built in 1996, to vacate. As of January 2011 the buildings still stand though large dumpsters sit nearby. The demolition is to help raise the mall's occupancy rate to 80%.

In December 2010 a massive landscaping took place with trees in the nearby creek getting cut back. Landscapers trimmed the trees lining the parking lot to reveal more of the center. Hull Storey Gibson repaved much of the parking lot.

A green space is an option the owner plans for the soon-to-be empty space. The economic recession hit Macon, GA really hard. Few stores have been added to the Eisenhower Parkway area. Some retail has risen on Georgia 96 but South Bibb County has experienced little movement. A proposed shopping center, replete with a Publix, has not materialized.

Ken Turner's Commentary

Macon.com advises of the November 4, 2008 courthouse sale of the foreclosed Macon Mall. Currently a court-appointed manager, Jones Lang LaSalle of Chicago, operates the 1.4 million square-foot facility. Macon Mall has lost two anchor tenants and has 39 empty spaces. The total number of spaces is presently 200. Opened in 1975 by Colonial Properties, the mall had four anchors- Davidson's, Sears, JC Penney, and Belk-Matthews. The oddest space was an old railway car near Penney's court which was the Grand Central Station restaurant. All anchors except Belk-Matthews had a restaurant. A Food Court was added in 1986. In 1996 two more anchor stores- Parisian and Dillard's- anchored a new wing with a nearby parking garage added to the east side. By then Macon's population demographic became more urban. The Shoppes at River Crossing, an upscale lifestyle center, opened its doors in North Bibb County in the spring of 2008.

Macon Mall was taken over by The Lightstone Group and managed by The Prime Retail Group in 2005. Foreclosure proceedings were initiated in 2007 by the LaSalle Bank National Association, which was a trustee of loans- one of which included the Macon Mall. That year saw Parisian close and in October 2008 Dillard's announced its closure.

People still go to the mall on weekends and the parking lot is still largely full. This will likely change in the near future with a shopping facility opening in once-rural South Bibb County and heavy growth in Houston County near Georgia Highway 96.

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