Hull Property Group has big plans for Columbus Place as it continues to “de-mall” the property, converting it to an “outward facing power center.” But when tenants will fill the center is still up in the air.
Hull Property Group Owner James Hull and Vice President for Government Relations John Mulherin said they are willing to be patient to find the “right tenants” for the space at a Wednesday press conference at property formerly known as Leigh Mall.
“The reimagination of a property like this is a slow process naturally,” Hull said. “When you think of what the mall was, and was looking like… what tenant that we would have wanted would have come? And we don’t think tenants we would have wanted would have come.”
Hull Property Group, based in Augusta, Georgia, bought the mall property through auction in 2019 for $3.5 million and completed work last summer to convert most of the side facing Highway 45 into a retail strip, renaming it Columbus Place.
The company is now preparing to do the same thing on the other side facing Highway 82 this summer, Hull said, demolishing the indoor enclosed mall area to convert 125,000 square feet for new outward facing tenants.
Tenants could use the space for medical, institutional, or “any other kind of use,” Hull told The Dispatch after the press conference. But while the company is casting a wide net, it is important for any Columbus Place tenants to be “high quality” and successful in the space.
“I’m not going to let a tenant here that I don’t think can succeed, OK?” Hull said. “I’m what they call ‘very disciplined.’ And part of that has to be a tenant who is fully merchandised. Full inventory. A tenant that’s got good customer service. A tenant who’s got the right aesthetic. And a tenant – lots of times a national tenant – that has the capital resources to be a successful tenant.”
Since November, Bealls, Cato and Claire’s all announced their departure from the former mall, leaving Prestige, American Deli and Mobi Gear inside, along with Five Below, Hobby Lobby, Dollar Tree, Planet Fitness, City Gear and Hibbett Sports on the exterior, and outparcels Trustmark and Hardee’s, as the shopping center’s remaining open stores.
When asked when the company may expect to see more tenants coming in than leaving, Mulherin said there is only so much the developer can control. But as a private company, rather than one trying to meet quarterly metrics for Wall Street investors, the Hull Group can wait longer than others might, Mulherin said.
“The one thing we do control is how it looks, how it feels, the stabilization, the remodel thing. What we do not control is the tenant,” Mulherin said. “The tenant has to … want Columbus. And we think that our investments to create the right offering over the long term will help us be successful.”
Hull said he hoped the redevelopment group would be further in the process by this time, but the project has slowed down as it has grown, investing “tens of millions of dollars” in the area, including the company’s outparcels. This includes six outparcels around the mall itself, along with four new outparcels, Mulherin said – one in front of Ross Dress for Less, and three near the LaQuinta Inn, including the old Waffle House.
Three of those outparcels, Mulherin said, have already attracted interested businesses, though he didn’t name the companies involved.
Hull Group has also been in negotiations with another company that could take up to 20,000 square feet of the mall next to Hobby Lobby, Hull said, though that deal is not yet finalized.
Mayor Keith Gaskin said he doesn’t think “we could have a better group that’s trying to refurbish this mall” than the Hull Group, as the company has worked with the city, county and other local groups closely throughout the process.
“It’s like having people from Columbus owning this facility, in my opinion, that’s how much they care,” Gaskin said. “It’s not like having a corporate office somewhere that you can’t reach out to and talk to.”
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