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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