Eastland Maul
For the taxpayers, that is, which could be lurking right around the corner from the sounds of recent developments. Eastland Mall’s new owner, Boxer Property, originally threw down a Christmas 2011 marker for reopening the shuttered retail goliath as a Hispanic-themed marketplace, but is already backing off the date.
Boxer bought the Eastland property for $2 million last summer, but the purchase only included the main section of the mall. Boxer president Andrew Segal is now once again hinting that government subsidy might be needed in helping to purchase the empty anchor stores – Dillard’s, Belk, Sears and Burlington Coat Factory.
That would be in keeping with Boxer’s previous venture into Hispanic-themed renovations of failing malls like La Gran Plaza in Fort Worth, Texas, where the company is soaking up property- and sales tax rebates that could top $21 million as part of the project.
And don’t you just love the timing of it all out in Eastland. How badly do you think the Democrat majority of the city council, not to mention the uptown cabal of Center City Partners and the CRVA, wants to avoid an empty and decaying eastside hub from popping up and ruining the city-of-recovery meme already being pushed for national exposure when the DNC rolls into town: $10 million worth of badly, $20 million?
Segal, the mall’s owner, says he’s pushing back the December launch date as his company considers selling the property while taking some time to learn more “about the market and the area.” More likely, Segal finally clued into how other developers doing major deals with the city council have stuck their hands deep into the taxpayers’ pockets and come out with solid gold, and figured, hey, why not me.
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