Macon Mall’s east-wing demolition set for this week

Macon Mall’s east-wing demolition is set to begin late this week, according to the mall management.

Signs announcing closure of the wing for demolition were posted on each east-wing entrance July 14, after the last of the eight tenants moved out of that portion of the mall.

“We’re getting ready to put this thing into the next gear,” said John Gibson, co-owner of Augusta-based Hull Storey Gibson Companies LLC on Wednesday while giving a tour of the mall.

The east-wing, which once housed 40 stores, was part of a $50 million, 423,000-square-foot expansion in 1997.

The long-planned consolidation of the stores into a smaller space and internal renovations have been the new management’s major attempts to revitalize the 1.4 million-square-foot mall, which has struggled in recent years.

Hull Storey Gibson owns 17 enclosed malls in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Texas. The company bought the Macon Mall in September last year out of foreclosure for about $6 million.

The owners plan to have a parking lot and a ring road run through the demolished space between JCPenny and the old Dillard’s building, the only structure on the east wing not being torn down.

Earlier planned for June, the demolition got delayed as the management and anchor stores took a longer time to settle on some redevelopment plan details, Gibson said during a mall tour in which he pointed out changes the company has made since taking ownership.

Along with the demolition, the mall also is making substantial changes to the interior. The escalator and staircase that rose from the food court entrance area are now gone. Kiosk numbers have come down from about 12 to two. Several of them are now located in storefronts. The intention behind both these moves is to provide “good, long, clear lines of sight” of the mall interior, Gibson said. This basically means when you stand anywhere in the hallway, you would be able to clearly see both ends.

Gibson added that the central passage’s natural lighting would also be better regulated through a changed roofing.

Pat Reeves, store manager of Spencer’s Gifts, said she was happy with the shift from the east-wing to her new location near the food court. “There’s more traffic down here,” she said.

The demolition and renovation will go on simultaneously, Gibson said, with an aim to have most of the changes in place by Nov. 1 -- the start of the Christmas shopping season. Gibson said the company was keeping customer safety as its top priority during the renovation process.

The demolition will begin from the inside and gradually move outward, Gibson said, adding that most of the waste would be either recycled or reused. Concrete will be crushed into a powder and used as material for a new mall ring road sub-grade, which is the layer below the asphalt, and all metals would also be taken to a recycling center.

“We don’t expect to be doing a great deal of hauling to the landfill,” he said.

The mall also plans to have two electronic reader boards up on Mercer University Drive and Eisenhower Parkway.

Even with these changes, the mall still faces several challenges in attracting more customers.

First, Gibson said, people’s concerns about security has to be eased. Gibson heaped much of the blame for the perception of lax security on what he said was the previous owner’s lack of care in operating the property.

“Our company is committed to owning and operating this mall and we care,” he said. “We’re here every week; we’ve got management here; our construction team is here.”

Gibson said the company would have increased security with an emphasis on foot patrol, and that the mall would welcome shoppers only.

The security team would courteously request that those not shopping leave, but visitors would be “welcome to return when they are going to shop,” he said. “We want the community to think of the Macon Mall as a family-friendly venue.”

Gibson said Macon police would also be making rounds during weekends with security dogs.

Another challenge the mall faces is plenty of competition from other shopping venues, including The Shoppes at River Crossing, the Eisenhower Crossing shopping center, downtown Macon and other area big box shopping centers.

Gibson acknowledged the challenge, and said the current revitalization efforts would help make the mall more competitive.

“We know we’ve got to compete -- there’s some wonderful shopping venues here in Macon,” he said. “And who’s the winner in all of that process? People of Macon.”

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report.

This story was originally published August 1, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Macon Mall’s east-wing demolition set for this week."