Slidell asks: What do you want the empty mall to become? | Business News

A group of 75 or so people gathered Aug. 13 in Slidell, lured in by a simple question: What should go in the spot where the beleaguered North Shore Square Mall now sits?

Think big, one of the discussion moderators, Keith Espadron of the St. Tammany Economic Development Corporation, told the group. “If you could dream your dream.”

The answers were all over the place. A film production facility. A trade school or college campus. An entertainment district.

“Indoor sports. It’s hot outside,” one person said.

“Laser tag — that’s fun,” said a teen-aged girl. “Or go-karts. Stuff like that.”

Don’t forget the adults, another woman said. “They would love to have soft music, dinner and dancing.”

“A Great Wolf Lodge. They have a humongous indoor water park,” said yet another woman, prompting one at least one person in the audience to nod appreciatively and say under her breath, “I could totally go for some time at a humongous water park.”

Other ideas were throwaways.

“I guess we could make the world’s largest Buc-ee’s,” one man said, drawing laughs and applause.

“Make it a 54-acre organic farm,” another man said, adding, “That was a joke.”

The gathering at the Slidell Municipal Auditorium was part of a study commissioned by the city of Slidell and the St. Tammany Economic Development Corp. to determine the best way to put the 54-acre mall site back into commerce. The consultant, Colliers, expects to report some of its findings later in the fall.

While the session might have seemed to some like an academic exercise, it came a day after Slidell City Council members, acting in their capacity as officers of the Northshore Square Economic Development District, authorized Mayor Bill Borchert to enter into a letter of intent to purchase the mall from Morguard, the Canadian company that owns it.

Council members also approved a 1% sales tax on purchases made at stores inside the district and a 2% hotel occupancy tax in the district. The taxes run through September 2075.

The 621,000-square-foot mall opened at the high-profile location on Northshore Boulevard just off Interstate 12 in 1985 and quickly became a regional shopping hub. But it now has only two open stores: the popular Dillard’s clearance center and At Home, a chain that recently filed for bankruptcy.

Borchert said the city and Morguard have negotiated a price, $13 million, but that more due diligence lies ahead before a purchase agreement can be formalized. The Dillard’s store and a storage facility on the mall site have different owners, so the city will also have to negotiate with them, officials said.

For years, Slidell officials have lamented the state of the mall, watching as store after store closed and as the mall’s interior was eventually locked up tight. Earlier this year, the city contracted with Colliers to help it determine the best use for the mall.

Even without the results from the study, Chris Masingill, who heads of the St. Tammany Economic Development Corp., said the only way the city can be sure to have control of any redevelopment is to own the site.

“It’s fundamentally the right strategy,” Masingill said. “They literally have the chance to take control of their own economic development future.”   

From the start of the Aug. 13 idea session, it was clear that residents on hand still mourn the mall. A common theme: The mall gave people something to do, and without it, there’s a void.

“It’s been depressing to watch the mall become what it’s become,” said Casey Smith, who remembers hanging out at the mall in its heyday. 

“Maybe we just need an old-fashioned game room for Gen Xers,” she added. “Like in the ’90s.”

Ryan Wilkes was more direct.

“The thing that stands out is there’s nothing to do here,” he said, adding his voice to those seeking some type of entertainment venue. 

But while the ideas flowed freely, a few in the crowd wondered if the city is moving too quickly. 

Rick Franzo, a Slidell resident and president of the Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany group, asked if the city essentially agreeing on the purchase before the consultant’s study is done is “putting the cart before the horse.”

“What are we actually buying?” Franzo asked, noting that the city would take on a lot of debt to make a purchase.

Pressed by the moderators to keep on the topic of alternative uses, Franzo did say he thinks a small retirement community might be a good fit for the site. 

City officials say the money for any purchase would come from bonds backed by the revenue from the Northshore Square Economic Development District taxes. The state Bond Commission would have to approve the issuance of any bonds, Borchert said.   

City officials say they want something at the site that will create jobs and drive economic development. One thing seems certain: The city doesn’t plan to reopen it as a shopping mall.

“The city will not be in the retail business,” Borchert said. “I can promise you that.”

And that will come as bad news to at least one person at the brainstorming session.

“I’m all for the mall staying the mall,” she told the consultants. “Don’t you know I love to shop?”