The city of Slidell has taken another big step in its efforts to purchase the nearly empty North Shore Square Mall, authorizing the mayor to enter into a letter of intent to buy the high-profile property at Interstate 12 and Northshore Boulevard.
Slidell Mayor Bill Borchert said he expected to sign a letter of intent Wednesday with the owners of the mall, Morguard, a Canadian company that manages billions of dollars in real estate across North America.
Borchert said the city and Moreguard have been discussing a possible sale for months, going back and forth on the price.
“They started at $53 million. I started at $9 million,” Borchert said. “We settled at just south of $13 million.”
There are still a number of steps that have to be taken. A property appraisal has to be done — the city can’t offer more than the property is appraised for — and a purchase agreement would have to be finalized. Borchert said the state Bond Commission would also have to sign off on bonds the city would use to pay for the approximately 55-acre site.
And since the Dillard’s Clearance Center and a self-storage facility on the site are privately owned, the city will have to negotiate a sale with the owners of those businesses, Borchert said.
Efforts to contact Morguard for comment Wednesday were not immediately successful.
The 621,000-square-foot mall, which opened in 1985 and became a regional shopping hub, has only two remaining stores: the popular Dillard’s discount store and At Home, a chain that just filed for bankruptcy.
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 closed as well.
Slidell City Council member Nick DiSanti noted that the letter of intent is nonbinding, meaning the city is in a “no-risk position” to pursue a deal.
“We’re excited about the opportunity,” he said.
The city recently commissioned a study to see what could be done with the site to revitalize it and get it back into commerce. The study is expected in mid-October, DiSanti said.
The closed North Shore Square Mall in Slidell on Thursday, August 15, 2024. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)
But Borchert and St. Tammany Economic Development Corporation CEO Chris Masingill have said the consultant, Colliers, has advised them that a first step should be purchasing the site so the city controls its development.
The city hasn’t said what long-term plans it has for the site. Colliers was hosting a community meeting Wednesday night in Slidell for the public to offer its ideas and thoughts.
But one thing seems abundantly clear: It won’t be reopened as a mall.
“The city will not be in the retail business,” Borchert said. “I can promise you that.”
Masingill called the proposed purchase “transformational.”
“It’s fundamentally the right strategy,” he said. “They literally have the chance to take control of their own economic development future.”
The money to cover any purchase would come from revenues generated by a special tax on purchases made inside the recently expanded Northshore Square Economic Development District. The district’s officers on Tuesday night approved a 1% sales tax on purchases made at stores inside the district and a 2% tax hotel occupancy tax in the district. Those new taxes begin Oct. 1 and will run through September 2075.
Borchert said officials believe those taxes will generate enough to repay $20 million in bonds to purchase the mall and other properties on the site. He said the state Bond Commission would have to approve the issuance of the bonds, which likely wouldn’t happen until October.
The officers of the Northshore Square Economic Development District also voted to authorize Borchert to enter into the letter of intent Tuesday night.
While the mall has fallen on hard times, other stores on the Northshore Boulevard corridor continue to do well. Home Depot, Walmart and Sam’s Club are among the stores nearby.
“There’s a lot of life left in that corridor,” DiSanti said.
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