The Cottonwood Mall, seen from across the street. The mall is 30 percent vacant.
By Lesley Mitchell
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 01/18/2007 01:59:49 PM MST
The Cottonwood Mall
Big potholes in the parking lot. Abandoned corridors. Vacant storefronts.
By all appearances, the glory days of 1960s-era Cottonwood Mall are long gone. Rumors that mall owner General Growth Properties is either selling the property or finally moving forward with an ambitious redevelopment plan have gone on for years.
But there are signs something may be happening soon at 4835 S. Highland Drive.
Several tenants say they have been told their leases will not be renewed. Eyeglass provider Lenscrafters vacated the mall on Dec. 30; employees had been telling customers it was because the mall would be closing at some point soon. Other tenants say they expect to be out in early 2007.
Mall management, however, is as vague as ever about the mall's prospects.
"We're actively addressing the future of Cottonwood Mall." said Cottonwood general manager Spence Angerbauer. "But it would be premature to provide any updates."
The uncertainty over the mall's future can be felt at businesses throughout the property, which over the past year has been 30 percent to 40 percent vacant.
In recent years, the mall has become populated with smaller businesses that pay less in rent and have shorter-term leases than larger, national tenants. There are still a number of national tenants, including anchors Macy's and J.C. Penney, and specialty retailers such as Victoria's Secret, but their numbers are fewer.
Night Flight Comics manager Mimi Cruz is one of many tenants who would like to know what is going on. The store, which has been in the mall nearly 20 years, has a lease that is up on March 31.
Like other tenants, Cruz said she's heard something may be happening. But "mall management won't tell us what is going on," she said.
One of the smaller tenants with a short-term lease is the nonprofit Intermountain Therapy Animals, which occupies an office on the mall's largely vacant second floor. The company trains animals to help people who can benefit from a visit by an animal.
"The great thing about being here is that the rent has been so affordable," said Melissa Byrd of Intermountain Therapy. But she said the organization, which shares the second floor with Furburbia, the Humane Society's pet-adoption center, has been told it might have to leave early in 2007.
So why would a well-known and well-capitalized mall owner such as General Growth Properties allow a mall in such a desirable area to struggle for so long? Why has it not embarked on redevelopment sooner? And why is it saying nothing about its plans now?
General Growth may have had no other choice but to let the mall limp along for years, said Darrell Tate, a retail specialist with commercial brokerages Commerce CRG in Salt Lake City.
Like others in the business, Tate has heard for years that the mall will be redeveloped.
One explanation as to why that hasn't happened is that "it's very complicated and it takes a long time to get to a point where you can redevelop an existing mall," Tate said. "People have leases in place, and you need to work through all those things. It's much more challenging to redevelop an existing project than to build a brand-new project."
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is familiar with that difficulty. It is emptying ZCMI Center Mall, Crossroads Mall and Key Bank Tower in downtown Salt Lake City to make way for a new development called City Creek Center. Complicating these efforts are numerous tenants with long-term leases.
General Growth presumably also would have to work out how the redevelopment would take place - would the mall be vacated, demolished and rebuilt, or would some stores remain during a less-involved renovation? What if a tenant with a long-term lease, such as Macy's, has demands that force General Growth to go back to the drawing board?
Representatives from Macy's and J.C. Penney declined to comment on the mall's future. A Macy's spokeswoman said only that the retailer plans to stay put.
Bryson Duncan, a retail specialist with NAI Utah, said Cottonwood Mall's location and ownership are big factors in why the mall has not yet been redeveloped.
"It's one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in Utah," he said. "But it may not be the best place for a shopping mall."
Unlike most other malls in Utah, Cottonwood is not next to a freeway. And with competing properties in close proximity, Duncan said redevelopment is a bit tricky.
"It has to be something different and unique to attract customers who can easily go somewhere else," he said.
One of those other places is Fashion Place Mall, 6191 S. State Street. General Growth also owns it after acquiring the center several years ago as part of an acquisition of another company. Fashion Place is one of Utah's - and probably the West's - most successful malls.
General Growth undoubtedly is concerned with not hurting Fashion Place - less than 6 miles away from Cottonwood - as it redevelops the Holladay mall.
While General Growth weighs its options, the rumors of what will happen to Cottonwood persist - and grow. One rumor is that the mall will be leveled and an office complex built in its place. Or a car lot. Or a theater complex. Lately, there's talk of a new Costco and Target.
"There's not a week that goes by now that I don't get two or three questions about [what is happening to] the mall," said Randy Fitts, Holladay city manager. "We'll have to have a special celebration when they decide what they are going to do."
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