May 4—Another store left Decatur Mall last week, dropping store numbers to dramatically low levels even as the owner continues to receive city incentives.

However, a representative of the owner reiterated the company's continued support this week for the struggling Beltline Road Southwest mall.

John G. Mulherin, vice president of Decatur Mall owner Hull Property Group, said the company "will continue to operate a first-class mall."

Mulherin said he believes Decatur Mall can become a thriving facility if the company keeps it clean and attractive to possible tenants.

"We will not allow it to disintegrate by putting the wrong tenant in it," Mulherin said. "There will be opportunities if we are good stewards of the property."

Bath & Body Works, a personal care and home fragrance store, closed its mall store on April 20. Manager Lindsay Persad said the store will reopen May 10 next to PetSmart at The Crossings of Decatur.

This is the latest major loss for the mall in recent years. Electronics Express moved out in December. Belk closed its Home Store last year, and Bed, Bath & Beyond closed in 2021.

The mall is down to 14 stores. While it's difficult to tell how many available spots there are because the mall covers empty spaces with historic and current photos of the city, a lease plan from 2020 shows the facility has roughly 36 remaining retail spots.

Mulherin said he believes "there's nothing wrong with Decatur, Alabama," but enclosed malls in secondary markets like the River City "are the least favorite property types in America."

He pointed out Hull owns 35 malls in 17 states and has never closed or sold any of them.

"Nobody buys properties like this except us," Mulherin said. "I know it's not sexy. We've got to wait. We will be patient."

Multiple maps tell the story of a once-thriving mall that's had four name variations in its 46 years. It opened as Beltline Mall in 1978 with only 15 stores. It also held the names of Colonial Mall, River Oaks Mall and, finally, Decatur Mall.

The decline of the "big box" department stores severely hurt the mall. Stores like Castner Knott, Sears, JCPenny and Parisian once filled locations in the mall. But now Belk is the only department store remaining.

Decatur's mall began struggling in the 2000s. First Republic purchased the mall in July 2007 from Birmingham-based Colonial Properties Trust. It filed a voluntary bankruptcy petition just three years later.

The New York-based Garrison Opportunity Fund LLC bought the facility out of bankruptcy in 2010 for $8.5 million and changed the name to Decatur Mall.

In 2012, the Decatur City Council approved a $6.8 million tax incentive plan for Garrison. If the mall hit investment and revenue benchmarks, Garrison retained 1.5% of the sales tax revenue from new tenants and 0.75% on qualified existing tenant expansions.

However, Garrison would not receive any incentive from a retailer that moved into the mall from another location in the city. The city would continue to collect 3% sales tax on existing retailers.

Garrison had collected only $317,000 in incentives before selling the mall to Hull Property in February 2016. The City Council then voted to transfer the incentive plan to the new mall owner.

The council also agreed to extend and revise the incentive program at Hull's request. The Georgia company, which also owns Florence Mall, made $12.6 million in improvements to Decatur Mall. It removed 200,000 square feet that included the Sears and JCPenney wings.

The mall fulfilled its portion of the agreement with the interior improvements that extended the incentives to Dec. 31, 2025.

City Chief Financial Officer Kyle Demeester said Hull now receives just .075% on an existing tenant moving from elsewhere in the city into the mall.

"They were upgrading the mall and, in return, we said, 'Thank you, and we're going to give you a piece of the sales tax for your investment,'" Demeester said.

According to Demeester, Hull's earnings in incentives dropped in the last three years. He said Hull retained $159,379 in 2021, $119,029 in 2022 and $95,263 last year.

Mulherin said they're not concerned now about the incentive program, especially the section where they would benefit from replacing Bridge Builders International Church, in a former grocery store next to the mall, with a retailer.

He said they weren't successful in finding a tenant to replace the church, "and we're very satisfied with Bridge Builders. (Pastor) Darius (Crayton) has done a fine job, and they're welcome to stay right where they are."

City Council President Jacob Ladner said everyone wants the mall to thrive and be successful, but enclosed malls nationwide are struggling while unenclosed malls are doing well.

Ladner said he would like to work with Hull Property to see what the city could do to help Decatur Mall and to consider some development options.

"There's a lot of unused space around the mall, especially in the back where there's this massive parking lot with a lot of unused concrete with a lot of opportunity," Ladner said. "I always thought that would be a good place for multi-family type development" such as apartments or town homes.

Ladner said Opry Mills Mall in Nashville "is an indoor mall but you can enter those stores from the outside."

Mayor Tab Bowling said it seems the owners haven't been interested in city leaders' recommendations, but he feels something needs to be done. While he likes Ladner's suggestion of adding apartments, the mayor also suggested demolishing it.

"They may get a better return if they take down the building and do something more like the outdoor shopping centers like The Crossings of Decatur where Target is," Bowling said. "People seem to like pulling up to a business and parking right in front of it."

Ladner said he would love to have a conversation with Hull about what the mall's future looks over the next 20 to 30 years.

"I hope it's a positive future, but we've got to maybe look at some other options," Ladner said.

Mulherin said they must be patient and consider all options. For example, he said one of Hull's malls includes a municipal court annex with offices and a small courtroom.

Mulherin had one guarantee for Decatur Mall.

"We won't fill it with flea market stores like some other mall owners have done," he said.

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— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432