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Great Mall sells for $20.5 million(The Olathe News (Olathe, KS) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jan. 6--Glimcher Realty Trust sold The Great Mall of the Great Plains for $20.5 million, according to a statement the company released Tuesday. It was sold to local investment group that plans to redevelop and rename the mall Great Olathe Center, according to a story in Tuesday's The Kansas City Star. The sale to Great Olathe Center, LLC, will be applied toward a $30 million loan on the property, the statement from Glimcher said. Tim McKee, executive vice president of economic development for the Olathe Chamber of Commerce said the group led by managing partner David M. Block, a principal with Block & Co. Realtors of Kansas City, Mo. knows the market. He said they will continue to aggressively push the product looking for tenants, as they had for the past eight months, when in it's quarterly report, Glimcher first announced it had an unnamed buyer for the mall. McKee said a problem with securing tenants lately for the mall was that it wasn't located in Columbus, Ohio-based Glimcher's backyard. Today, the mall is about 80 percent occupied, a number that will drop to about two-thirds when Steve & Barry's closes later this month after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection during the summer, said Steve Hougland, the mall's general manager. McKee added, the more than 800,000-square-foot mall, which opened in 1997, was likely built before it's time. "Now with all of the development in and around that area," McKee said citing the construction of the Interstate 35 and Lone Elm Road interchange, the continuing development of Olathe Medical Center and Garmin, and the population explosion in South Olathe, Gardner and Spring Hill, "it has now finally started coming into its own. "Other than the economy," he added, "this couldn't be a better time." But McKee warned that "drastic changes" wouldn't occur overnight. They probably wouldn't happen for at least a year or two, he said. Block told the Star that new promotions at the mall should begin in the next two months, but acquiring national tenants wasn't expected until 2010 to 2012, after the economy had a chance to rebound. In the meantime, Block said his group would increase visibility of the mall from I-35 by adding more signs. He said that additional walkways cutting through the center of the mall would be added and its decor would be redesigned. Block added that future additions could also include high-profile entertainment venues and a hotel. "The mall draws from a very, very broad demographic and geographic," Block told the Star. "We plan to reposition it to be a driving force in retail sales for the future in southern Johnson County." McKee said it's too early to tell what the mall would become, but said it could be redeveloped as a mixed use center similar to Zona Rosa in Kansas City, Mo., or a combination indoor mall/outdoor lifestyle center. He added that the future plans of Great Olathe, LLC, wouldn't likely keep the mall indoor only. "They're saying everything we want to hear, that they'll give (the mall) their full attention," McKee said. "Hopefully this will turn into the mall we all wanted in Olathe." To see more of The Olathe News or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.olathedailynews.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, The Olathe News, Kan. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |