End of Crossroads Mall near?

The end in sight for Crossroads Mall?
Journal Record
July 2nd, 2008 · No Comments

The nail in the coffin for Crossroads Mall in Oklahoma City may soon be hammered. The city’s largest mall has fallen on hard times having lost two of its anchor tenants in the past year with J.C. Penney and Macys. As a result, the mall is continuing to see smaller inline tenants vacate with the decline in mall traffic. Now it appears Steve & Barry’s could be vacating one of the mall’s two remaining anchor spaces with the news released yesterday that the apparel retailer may be facing bankruptcy and is currently negotiating with its lenders. You can read all the gory details on America Online’s Money & Finance website.

Some retail experts are confident that Steve & Barry’s will at least close a significant number of its 200 stores, while others feel that the retailer may end up folding altogether. Either way, the future for Steve & Barry’s at Crossroads Mall looks bleak.

If the mall should lose Steve & Barry’s, it would leave Dillards as the only anchor left at Crossroads, and a one anchor regional mall just cannot survive. In fact, many retail experts believe it is only a matter of time before Dillards leaves Crossroads. The mall’s ownership is trying to do things to breathe life back into Crossroads such as their new Family Nights on Fridays and Saturdays, but unfortunately they are battling against two stout forces. The first being the decline in the retail market thanks to the downturn in the national economy, and second, the fact that most mall-type retailers in the Southwest quadrant of Oklahoma City are choosing to lease space in the newly-built power centers along Interstate 240 and in Moore. By taking all of these factors into consideration, you can see why losing Steve & Barry’s could very well be the nail in the coffin for the mall.

In other Crossroads Mall related news, longtime commercial realtor Gerald Gamble has placed a listing on Loopnet to sell the former Macy’s space at the mall. It appears that there is little hope of leasing the space and the desire now is that a second generation retail space user will acquire the building much the way Edmond-based LifeChurch.tv did in buying the former Dillards building at Heritage Park Mall to use as their forthcoming Midwest City campus location.

The end in sight for Crossroads Mall?

I expected this would happen, I just dont understand why crossroads will not look into the outlet mall type, it could bea big thing, changing itfrom a regular mall to a outlet mall, I would much rather shop in a outlet mall for bargains

We are already getting an outlet mall, so I don't see that happening.

They need to put in entire new floorings, upgrade everywhere to modern designs, and much more. Yeah, they need to replace rails (the ones on 2nd floor to prevent falling to doom) and maybe add a mini roller coaster and ferris wheel. Maybe they can bid to have the new oil derrick to be built right in the center of the mall and people enter the mall to see the base and pay to enter the ride to the top.

I think we can easily compare Crossroads to other malls that have gone down similar paths. The signs are there...anchors leaving, the type of crowd it attracts, and the fleeing of the smaller fill in retailers.

Crossroads will likely be dead with in 5 years...but if people are smart, they will keep it from being a slow death. All that will do is cause property values to drop more, raise crime, and just be overall bad for that part of town.

Ideally, the mall needs to begin a plan to shut down and dismantle. Tear the mall down and then redevelop the area as 50% office space, 30% residential and 20% retail. A Sheperd Mall redevelopment probably won't happen - utilizing the existing space. The best thing though is to tear it all down and start over with new construction. Otherwise blight will just skyrocket in that area of town and we don't need that.

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It's too late really. Upgrades would be a waste at this point because it's only a matter of time.

They would probably get more people there too if people stopped getting shot, and robbed in the parking lot.

government retrofit perhaps, but that seems a slim tail for a large donkey

Its going to be very odd to have prime property to just sit there, I wonder what could replace crossroads, I mean it has so much land, land for a new arena for a nfl football team (hey we are now a national city so it isnt really far fetched)

Jesseda - I've been trying to get that moving with Heritage Park. Heritage is physically in much better conidition and in a much better part of town. It's not as accessibile, but outlet malls attract from far.

I know I would love a outlet , I know we are getting a outlet in west okc area but we can always have more than one..

I highly doubt we can support more than one outlet mall.

The city or federal government will probably purchase Crossroads Mall and turn it into the fabled "I-240 & I-35 loop." God knows we need it!

I hate to see this happen if i had the money I would go in and buy the mall and run out all the shady tenants and then restore the mall to the way it was in the 70's with the drop down ceilings and lights and everything put back in the walkway and fountain and try and get good anchors and tenants to move into it, I would make it a place where the rif raf croud would not want to hang out at.

TOD!, TOD!, TOD!

or even something like this: Belmar

the only reason i go to crossroads anymore is to eat at garfields, I haven't liked shopping there for at least 5 years or longer. Steve & Barry's is a decent cheap clothing store though, so we would usually swing in there as we were leaving.

Hate to tell you this, but Garfields is gone from both Crossroads and Quail Springs.

Don't see Crossroads as an outlet mall, but then, the last time I went to an outlet mall it dinna seem much different than regular mall prices, just less service.

shows what i know...we hadn't been in over a year anyway

I'm sure keeping the Post Rd. (or whatever street's exit) the big fuss was about doesn't really matter at this point...

I really with the city would annex Valley Brook, use some eminent domain and clean that whole area up. That accompanied with the demolishing of Crossroads could lead to a rebirth of the area. While the demographics are severely lacking north of I-240, there has been significant growth to the east and southwest of the intersection there. The whole area is just completely outdated and depressive.

I can't believe Dillard's hasn't bailed yet. Guess they've still got some time left on their lease.

The entire area surrounding the mall is very depressed and I think they're going to have a tough time figuring out something constructive to do with the building. (Valley Brook to the north, a landfill to your east, an electric company on your southern border and a bad neighborhood on the west?) How are they going to make that work?

Eh trust me...if Dillards wanted to bail from that place they would and just pay the lease rates. They have property at a mall in Ohio that they own (roughly half the mall)...and they pulled their store out of there a couple years ago. Mall officially shut down this past month and the entire thing will be torn down. The size of the mall is pretty close to Crossroads, a little bit smaller though. They are turning it into a small scale mixed use area - residential/retail/office space with a very small lifestyle center like center.

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Last year I moved, so I am closer to sooner fashion mall then crossroads, Last time I was in crossroads it seemed really sad walking a long stretch of closed stores, just 10 years ago it was packed and was the place to hang out or shop (not so ghetto kids haned out there back then). Sooner is nice but small, I want to see howthe lifestyle center turns out in norman, I would rather havea open air mall but the trend hasnt hit here yet i guess and the weather might play a part in it as well..