To anyone in Columbus for the last 49 years, the giant building at 1404 Old Aberdeen Road has always been Leigh Mall.
But the Hull Property Group, which bought the mall in 2019 with the goal of flipping it inside out, has scrapped the old moniker for a new one the company feels appropriate for its new shopping center: Columbus Place.
Hull Property Group Vice President of Government Relations John Mulherin told The Dispatch that changing the name was simple. After all, creating something new begs a new name, he said.
“One of the things that we’re doing is transforming the property,” Mulherin said. “Certainly, a name change is in alignment with that because it’s just not a mall anymore. It’s going to be an outward-facing power center. So, the thought was while we’re transforming the look and feel, the name change is appropriate as well.”
As far as the state of the project, Mulherin said the interior demolitions of the former Zales Jewelry Store, JCPenney and Books-A-Million have been completed and contractors are now working on the exterior facades for those as well as exterior demo in front of the Rue 21, the former Hibachi Grill and Shoe Dept., which closed Friday.
Mulherin said that facade work is the final leg of the building’s renovation, and that work should finish by late summer. After that, the company will upgrade the parking lot and infrastructure. Columbus Place should be fully open in the fall.
“We should have it certainly buttoned up before we get into the Black Friday and holiday shopping season,” Mulherin said. “That’s our goal.”
While the renovation project continues, Mulherin said Hull Property Group has been engaging with several possible tenants to fill the 13 new outward-facing store locations in the front of the new shopping center, as well as several interior spaces left over to neighbor some of the current tenants still at Leigh Mall, though, Mulherin declined to disclose any potential new tenants.
“Certainly conversations are ongoing,” he said. “I personally think the property is going to show better when it’s not in a state of under construction. And so I think we’ll actually gain more interest once people see the finished product.”
Georgia-based Hull Property Group purchased the mall for $3.5 million via online auction in October 2019 and obtained a $3.1 million economic incentive package from the city and county in May 2022 to start renovations.
Mulherin previously told The Dispatch the money would be needed to recover the approximately $3.125 million cost of engineering work to “flip the building inside-out” and demolish the old Sears Automotive building.
Hull will pay taxes on the mall at its current assessed value for 15 years. The ad valorem value of any additions made will be repaid to the company, along with 75% of the net sales tax collected on non-grocery sales. If a grocery store is located there, 50% of the sales tax generated by grocery sales will return to the company. The incentives will not include ad valorem tax collections for schools.
Mulherin also said the project’s original $20 million price tag has increased approximately 20%, bringing the project cost total to around $24 million. Despite the increase in cost, Mulherin said it has not affected the project’s progress or the profitability of “Columbus Place.”
“It’s the business that we’re in,” he said. “We loved the property. We love real estate. We love the community. We think there’s really no such thing as bad property, it’s only bad stewardship of property, and we certainly consider ourselves good stewards of property. As a good steward, you have to invest in your property.”
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