Crossroads Mall sold to investors


By The Associated Press


Arkansas investors have purchased three malls, including Crossroads Mall in Oklahoma City.

Midwest Mall Properties, formed by Doyle Rogers, John Flake and Sam Mathias, has also purchased Citadel Mall in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Northwest Arkansas Mall in Fayetteville, the company announced Tuesday.
The purchase price was in the $400 million range, Midwest Mall said.
"We view this as a tremendous investment opportunity," Rogers said. "These are all class A properties, each 90 percent or more leased.
"All three are anchored by nationally renowned retailers and are in fast booming population centers. Each mall is in excellent condition and each has maximum potential for continued success."
Crossroads Mall, the largest of the malls purchased by Midwest Mall Properties, is near the intersection of Interstate 35 and I-240. The 1.2 million-square-foot mall sits on 46 acres and is anchored by Macy's, Dillard's and J.C. Penney department stores.

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" You've Been Thunder Struck ! "

That's good news. I hope they turn it around. Too bad Simon Properties didn't buy it.

It's the outside/surrounding area that really needs retooling.

There location is literally "on the wrong side of the railroad tracks."

Give me a physical break. Another case of ignorance and plain pretentiousness.

Yes, south/southeast OKC is in need of major improvements. But there have been some substantial retail developments along I-240 lately, and Moore continues to grow and develop.

My point being, Crossroads mall can/should be saved. Was it not once hailed as "the largest and most impressive mall of the southwest" by the Oklahoman (albeit in the 1970's)?

With the right ownership and the right business plan, the mall can be saved. Do us all a favor and spare us the usual/typical/redundant "south OKC is nothing but white trash/minorities" speech.

Yeah, I'm not a southsider but oumoodman is right, it's on a major N/S US corridor experiencing rapid growth. The mall's management was it's biggest detractor. Although I'll probably never go to the mall, I hope they get a clean slate.

Macerich did virtually nothing with that mall for over ten years. Anybody can do better than that. Hopefully this smaller, more local company will actually do something with it.

As for the other malls this group purchased, I am only familiar with Northwest Arkansas Mall, and it is quite impressive. It is similar to Penn Square as far as retailers and overall appearance. So maybe this ownership group will put Crossroads on a similar path--or at least aim for such on down the line.

I agree with the others about the location. Crossroads, while close to some downtrodden neighborhoods, is also very near some of the nicest areas of the city. I hope the new buyers can turn it around -- there's certainly lots of potential.

-------------------

Good point. In reality, Penn Square is very near some of OKC's nicest neighborhoods in Nichols Hills, but the area to the immediate south is not nearly as nice, and if you go a mile south, the area deteriorates more. Some of the worst neighborhoods I have seen were around 30th between Penn and May. Already small houses in terrible condition. So obviously there is potential for Crossroads to rise out of the doldrums. This is a turning point for sure.

I hope these investors can really turn Crossroads around. Being from a small town with no malls within an hour, being able to go to Crossroads when I was little was a real treat!

Looks like we may be facing one problem, and I hope this changes. Macerich said they'll still be managing the property as long as the owners desire their presence. Personally, I hope the new owners dump the management group, and manage the mall themselves. Macerich let Crossroads mall slide from one of the nicer malls in the city to one of the worst.

Crossroads is close to Valley Brook and other poorer areas, but as others have stated, many of the cities richest areas are far south. I might be mistaken, but isn't one of the city's wealthiest zip codes down south?

Crossroads Mall has location, location, and location. They have I-240 and I-35 pushing thousands of motorists by the mall everyday. Quail Springs only wishes it had such a location, being that it can only be accessed via a turnpike or city streets.

I saw that in yesterday's Daily Disappointment (speaking of its getting worse by the day, the business section was 2 pages in the sports section yesterday). Looks like Macerich will still be managing the mall.

I wouldn't be surprised if keeping Macerich on as managers is only a short-term strategy.

I would be very surprised if the new investment group didn't have renovation/upgrade plans in the works because one visit would tell you that that mall is losing ground to other developments.

I would agree that making public statements about keeping the current management are only to ensure a smooth transition. The new owners will want to shake things up to give people a reason to come back to Crossroads (hey that could be their slogan). You can only achieve that with new management and an influx of dollars.

I too agree, it is to smooth out the transaction. I just hope that it's not part of their long term plans as well.

I'd be very surprised if the new management group released existing employees though. When Simon bought Penn Square they retained the original staff from Urban Retail Inc.

The management is THE problem at Crossroads. You have people running the place that are completely clueless about the reasons behind the decay of the mall.

Christi Parks (I believe that's her name) places much of the blame on highway construction. The REAL reason, as well all know, is poor management, and lack of a vision for the mall.

Simon Properties are so stringent about who leases space and work done in their malls ..makes for very nice quality control but wow, are they strict!

I think part of Crossroads Mall problem is the reputation ... it is sad that once rumors get started about a certain location it's hard to shake it.

I've only been once so I can't comment at all. But I was talking to a stylist yesterday and we were talking about the mall being sold and the possiblility of opening a salon there since it was sold.. and these were her words, not mine.. " No way, I'm afraid to even walk in that mall alone.. I drive to Penn" and she lives in Moore! So, I thought that was interesting given that we have been discussing the mall lately.

I think if they did some nice marketing work and some promotions with plenty of safe, family oriented activities to get people to come back, and it all goes without a hitch, it might help the negative image that some people have of the mall.

Speaking of malls, I walked an hour this morning at Quail .. that was pretty cool.. climate controlled, stores were closed but I could still window shop at a brisk pace and it made the time fly by.. there were plenty of people trucking around the perimeter..

I thought it was a great way to get in an hour of exercise when you're not in the mood for the gym.. which I wasn't and seldom am!

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" You've Been Thunder Struck ! "

It is absolutely pathetic that this perception persists around Crossroads.

I will not for a second pretend that the Crossroads area hasn't had its problems, particularly with teenagers mostly congreating and socializing and not shopping - but I've also heard those are problems at virtually every mall in town. Sadly, you'll have a few people with a bad experience or anecdotal story mutate a few times and you'll think WW III is waged in the corridors of Crossroads each and every day. It just isn't true. Sadly, there are some on this board who have tried to perpetuate this notion.

I can't change people's perceptions, but all I can do is relay my personal experience, which is all good. In fact, my wife and son just got back from Crossroads a few minutes ago (around 9pm on a Saturday), and neither of them have ANY gunshot wounds!! Zounds!

I think new ownership at Crossroads can be nothing but a good thing, and I hope that once the dust settles the new owners will give Macerich their well-deserved kick in the assets.

-SoonerDave

That perception about not being safe is a load of BS. There is no reason to not feel safe while shopping there...not any more of a reason than any other mall. I've been there recently and gone for years and there is nothing wrong with the place. It's far less crowded than Penn or Quail (with much better close parking), so you don't have to fight the crowds all the time. If you think there is a safety problem, then you haven't been or have a tilted idea of safety.

I would have to disagree with that statement. Look at the reported incidents of crime at Crossroads and compare the statistics to Penn and Quail, then we can all make an informed decision.

Actually, the same number of crimes have been recorded within a .25 mile radius of both Quail Springs and Crossroads Malls (23 total crimes for each mall ranging from assualt, theft, etc.).

Only Penn Square has a significantly lower crime history, with 3 crimes reported around the same radius. (Data from NewsOk crimetracker).

I agree with bombermwc, I was there AGAIN over the weekend. We shopped the whole mall for about 4 hours and once again felt just as safe as anywhere else.

We even intentionally payed close attention to safety issues. Sure, we saw a few kids wearing clothing that were too 'gansta' for our taste, but they were acting harmless enough and I've seen the same thing at Penn Square. There was plenting of security to be seen and like bombermwc said, parking is awesome and no crowds!

I didn't see the dates that CrimeTracker is using but I remember the jewelry store in Penn being robbed at gun point with people in the mall.

Good point bailjumper...Big difference is the armed robbers at Penn Square are much better dressed than the ones at Crossroads...I mean there are people walking around in Crossroads with non brand name clothing and let me tell you that scares the heck out of me

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Dr. Spaceman: Now Jenna, medically speaking for your height your weight puts you what we call the "disgusting" range. Fortunately there are solutions. For example, crystal meth has been shown to be very effective. How important is tooth retention to you?

Now THAT's funny stuff, dude...




-sd