Week 18: Staunton Mall continues to come down

Laura Peters, Staunton News Leader
·2 min read

STAUNTON — The Staunton Mall is now in week 18 of demolition. The process has taken more than four months and appears to not be complete yet.

The News Leader asked Carl Blackwell with Commonwealth Commercial, the company in charge of leasing out the spaces yet to come, about the timeline of the demo and new construction, but did not hear back.

Blackwell last month said there was nothing new to report in terms of development. At that time, he said the demolition is still on-going. Signs have been hung around the mall from Commonwealth Commercial advertising leasing opportunities.

The mall continues to be hollowed out with the outer shells of the storefronts still partially intact. A large portion of the former J.C. Penney to past the former United Church storefront are now empty. Inside, demo now includes razing the former movie theater, Peebles and food court.

After demolition, there will be a build back of retail, office, flex and multi-family — that is what Commonwealth Commercial is currently leasing.

There are three parcels available near McDonalds heading toward Belk, two near the former J.C. Penney and four in the back portion of the current mall's footprint, including the back parking lot. The front portion of the mall, past the J.C. Penney store to Belk, looks like it would be torn down to make for a larger parking lot. With the partial demolition of the mall, it would revert to a strip mall with several new outparcel businesses.

The mall closed in early 2021 after it was sold to Staunton EM 2 LLC for $3,675,000. The stores remaining on the property include Dollar Tree, Belk, McDonalds, Red Lobster and the T-Mobile store.

Here's a timeline of the mall:

  • The property began as an open air shopping plaza concept in 1969.

  • In 1985, it was renovated and roofed in for indoor shopping.

  • In 2004, then-owner Colonial Properties Trust announced it wanted to sell what was then called Colonial Mall Staunton, along with five other malls it owned.

  • First Republic Group Realty purchased the property in 2007, renaming it Staunton Mall.

  • Staunton Mall Realty LLC bought the shopping center in November 2010 for $4.05 million when then-owner First Republic Realty was in bankruptcy.

  • In 2014, Staunton Mall Realty LLC sold the property to Staunton Mall LLC, a Delaware company for $4.5 million. Once the mall was sold, a new management team came in, which has also seen turnover. Then, Asprey Real Estate Corp. took over management in 2015.

  • Peebles closed in 2018.

  • J.C. Penney closed in 2020.

  • The mall was sold in 2021.

  • It was rezoned in 2021 for multifamily residential.

  • Teardown began in March 2022.

Laura Peters is the trending topics reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip on local trends or businesses? Or a good feature? You can reach reporter Laura Peters (she/her) at lpeters@newsleader.com. Follow her @peterslaura. Subscribe to The News Leader at newsleader.com.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Staunton Mall demo continues. Now in week 18. Here's how it looks.