WATERLOO — After years of struggling to survive, Crossroads Mall will be demolished and replaced with apartments, standalone stores, ball courts and recreation areas.
The City Council unanimously approved a $20 million development agreement with Waterloo Crossroads Development LLC for the acquisition, demolition and redevelopment of the Crossroads Mall area at its meeting Monday.
The near-empty mall near the intersection of San Marnan Drive and La Porte Road opened in 1970 and currently has a U.S. Cellular store, H&R Block, two restaurants, a massage business and space for military recruiters.
At Home, the mall’s last anchor store, closed last year. That store took the place of JC Penney after it closed in 2015.
In the past year, Bath and Body Works and Finish Line stores closed. Dillard’s, Sears and Younkers all closed in 2018 and Gordman’s closed in 2020.
Crossroads Center mall in Waterloo will be demolished and the area redeveloped.
The developer, represented by its management team McClure, is expected to close on the sale in January. McClure is an engineering firm with roots in Fort Dodge and offices across Iowa that is also involved in real estate development and management. The manager of Ankeny-based Waterloo Crossroads Development LLC is B.J. Stokesbary.
The company will buy the mall from Long Island, New York-based Namdar Realty Group, which purchased the property in 2017. Namdar also owns College Square Mall in Cedar Falls.
Terry Lutz, chairman of McClure, made a council presentation to provide a glimpse into the future of the mall. No ideas are set in stone but he touched on “cozy” apartment complexes, basketball or pickleball courts, an outdoor plaza that could be used for farmers markets and concerts, a splash pad and a dog park. There would also be some retail space.
“Malls are a thing of the past, but people still want retail,” Lutz said. “Retail is a form of entertainment and when you can put the two together, along with housing, we can create a lot of synergy.”
He went into detail on the company’s redevelopment of Fort Dodge’s former mall, also called Crossroads, to look at financial aspects. Fort Dodge paid for the $18 million project with proceeds from its tax increment financing district. It’s been in the works for about five years. The Fort Dodge Messenger newspaper reported that stores and a pavilion will open by the end of the year.
The city will reimburse the development group for the acquisition and demolition of the mall. The $20 million for redevelopment will be paid for with TIF dollars.
The city paid for the redevelopment of North Crossing, formerly Logan Plaza, with money collected in a TIF district.
The Fort Dodge project also received money from Webster County and sales tax reimbursement from the state. The former mall now called Corridor Plaza is expected to generate $2 million in property tax revenue per year, when it previously created $100,000 annually.
Crossroads Mall in Waterloo currently generates about $260,000 in property taxes annually and is valued at $6.8 million, according to the Black Hawk County assessor’s office website.
In other business, the council approved a development agreement with Dhani Re Water LLC for the renovation of 722 Water St. into a 26-unit apartment building with a minimum assessed value of $2.4 million. The Waterloo company is managed by Arp Patel. The city is providing a $5,000 incentive per housing unit, a total of $130,000, and a $290,000 grant.
Property taxes will be rebated by 90% for years one through five, 70% for years six through 10 and 50% for years 11 through 15.
The property was formerly Black Hawk Fruit Co., Hoxie Fruit Co., Brinkley’s Landing restaurant, Huckleberry’s restaurant and the College of Hair Design.
The council also approved:
- A $24,700 agreement with AECOM of Waterloo to repair the damaged Commercial Street skywalk.
- A six-month moratorium on the hobby farms ordinance, to further discuss the matter.
- A donation from the family of Donna Bartley Reed in the amount of $168,366 to go toward the city’s parks.
Malls are closing across the country. These states are keeping them alive.
Malls are closing across the country. These states are keeping them alive.
Malls, once hubs for big chains and small retailers alike, are struggling. That is shifting the way entrepreneurs launch and run businesses.
According to a 2023 Jones Lang LaSalle report, mall vacancies are at their highest levels in the past 15 years, exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, the proliferation of online shopping, and closures and bankruptcies among popular mall retailers and major department stores that have historically anchored the destinations.
As a result, malls are closing, and their popularity is waning. The number of malls in the U.S. fell from 1,500 in 2005 to about 1,150 by late 2022. And this holiday season, just 2 in 5 shoppers (41%) plan to go to stores inside malls, according to JLL’s report. That compares to at least 3 in 4 shoppers (77%) expecting to buy online with home delivery and nearly half (48%) planning to shop at physical stores that aren’t inside malls.
While malls struggle to stay relevant, developers continue to build retail space—considerably open-air centers of neighborhoods and communities. In those developments, traditional mall tenants and new retailers alike are opening shops. Moreover, a widely cited Coresight Research report shows malls are bouncing back, especially those innovated with dining, recreational experiences, and more.
Between malls and other shopping centers, Americans continue to flock to brick-and-mortar establishments. This is true in some locales more than others. To dig deeper into these trends, Findbusinesses4sale used International Council of Shopping Centers data to identify states with the highest concentration of marketplaces, measured as the number per 100,000 residents in 2022. For its data analysis, the ICSC defines marketplaces as malls, strip malls, outlets, and coordinated or planned retail streets.
Marketplaces prevail in the South
Shopping centers are most concentrated among southern U.S. states—and nowhere more than South Carolina. Marketplaces are prevalent nationwide, particularly in Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, Hilton Head Island, and Myrtle Beach. Notable Columbia-area shopping centers are adapting to changes in how their communities shop and live—shifting spaces to host gyms, charter schools, and even churches—to become more embedded in average people’s days.
Florida is another U.S. leader in shopping centers. The state’s population has grown fast, spurring a need for more housing—some of which has been built within the footprints of existing malls. These live-and-shop plazas bake a customer base directly into their malls and are becoming increasingly trendy in South Florida. Fine dining is another staple of thriving malls, and some have built restaurants headed by celebrity chefs as modern anchors for their locations. Major grocer Publix has also acquired mall properties and inserted itself as the anchor store, making these malls a destination for everyday necessities.
Trends within these states are becoming more common in successful malls across the country, revitalizing indoor and outdoor shopping centers with more than just a fresh coat of paint.
Story editing by Jeff Inglis. Copy editing by Paris Close. Photo selection by Ania Antecka.
This story originally appeared on Findbusinesses4sale and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
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