Demolition continues at old Peach Tree Mall
Jan. 28—After a fire tore through a large portion of the former Peach Tree Mall in Linda in October, demolition of the affected area is nearly complete.
Hilbers, Inc., who is headquartered in Yuba City, is in charge of the demolition and listed as a partner with Feather River Center, LLC, as owners of the property.
Glenn Hilbers, project executive with Hilbers, confirmed Thursday that demolition of the site, which started in November, is set to be completed in the next four to five weeks. He said the areas that were burned and the old JCPenney are the only parts of the old mall that will be demolished.
"I was out there today and they're in the process of tearing down the Penney's structure," said Hilbers on Thursday.
He said after the demolition is complete, there will be a crusher and grinder at the property to grind walls and slabs that can be reused.
For many in the community, what's to become of the old mall has been a hotly discussed issue. Some online have suggested that big stores like Costco or others would be ideal, but Hilbers was not able to publicly confirm on Thursday who would fill the former mall's space.
"We are in discussions with some tenants," said Hilbers.
He said more than 96,000 square feet will remain after the demolition, including the nearby FoodMaxx.
For Yuba County, what becomes of the old mall also has been a question it has wanted to answer as the county sees the site as an ideal spot for commerce and bringing back sales tax dollars lost after the mall was no longer in use.
"At this point, the county is just looking forward to seeing the property become a fresh canvas for future retail," said Russ Brown, public information officer for Yuba County in an email to the Appeal. "Its location right off Highway 70 and smack in the middle of Yuba County's most populated area makes it ideal for economic growth."
Brown said because flood protections are now in place, the area is a prime location for a new business.
"From the county perspective, the clearing of this property is huge," said Brown. "Back in the 70s and into the 80s, that mall was the jumpstart for Yuba County's economy, and it was gone in a heartbeat when the levee broke along the Yuba River right behind where Walmart is now. We're in a much different place now, with flood protection and levees that are among the best this side of the Mississippi."
The fire
Increased interest in getting something new at the former Peach Tree Mall began after a fire on Oct. 2, 2021, burned a large portion of the structure. The fire was started by a homeless man, Thomas P. Wright, who was arrested on Oct. 2 after being pulled out of the vacant building that was burning at around 5:30 a.m. that day.
Wright intentionally set fire to a squatter encampment he shared with his girlfriend inside the old mall building, the Appeal previously reported. The couple had been having an argument and Wright threatened to burn them both alive, according to the Yuba County District Attorney's Office.
Law enforcement said Wright had lit insulation and other materials on fire inside the building. Linda Fire Protection District Chief Kyle Heggstrom said at the time that the third of the building that caught fire collapsed and the roof structure burned completely.
Wright pleaded no contest to arson and making criminal threats on Oct. 27, 2021.
Yuba County Superior Court Judge Julia Scrogin sentenced Wright to five years, eight months in state prison on Nov. 29, 2021, for the arson of the former mall and making a criminal threat to his girlfriend.
In early December, the district attorney's office said the owners of the property were working to remove the hazardous waste and demolish approximately 178,000 square feet that was damaged by the fire — about half of the mall's original 400,000 square feet of retail space.
"The Peach Tree Mall was an anchor in our community," the Yuba County District Attorney's Office said in a post on Facebook on Dec. 3, 2021. "Built in 1972, the mall was the biggest retail center in the Yuba-Sutter area, rivaled only by downtown Marysville with its independent shops along D street and Mervyn's. Lots of great memories from a time when Marysville and Linda were the center of commercial life (in) the Yuba-Sutter region. ... The mall began to die on February 20, 1986. The river levels had actually started to decline, but the levee across from the mall had become so saturated with water it collapsed, sending flood waters that inundated thousands of homes and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate the Linda area.
"The Peach Tree Mall clung to life in the decades that followed with a couple of tenants and some government offices, but it never regained steam as a retail hub. After 1986, the retail interests took up residence in Yuba City, where the ground was a little higher and there was plenty of room for the box stores that crushed main street and reshaped our communities. FoodMaxx is the last tenant left in the old mall."
