Hickory Hollow Mall gives tenants just 30 days to vacate www.privateofficer.com
NASHVILLE, Tenn. June 2 2012- Most tenants of Hickory Hollow Mall have received a notice from the mall’s owners letting them know they have 30 days to vacate the property.
The letters came on Friday. Officials with CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. said that the tenants of the mall were notified as part of the mall’s plan for the future.
“Hickory Hollow is in the process of reinventing itself and as part of this evolution we’re going to close a portion of the retail temporarily and that will allow us to develop a plan for the remainder of the center,” said Katie Reinsmidt of CBL Properties.
Reinsmidt said a dozen stores will remain open in the short term. It is not know if retail will be part of Hickory Hollow in the future. She did not name which stores would not close.
Shoppers reacted to the news of the mall’s fate Friday afternoon.
“It’s not surprising, it’s gone down hill. It’s been sad to see it go the way it’s been going, so it’s nice to know some new places are coming in, the college is coming in,” said shopper Abby Axelrod.
Rodney Gammage has shopped at Hickory Hollow since he was a child. He has hated to watch the mall’s demise.
“It’s like a ghost town in there. You go down certain halls it’s dark. All the stores are closed, the gates are shut. It’s kind of heart breaking because I’ve been coming to this mall since I was a kid,” Gammage said.
Juanita Veasy runs the non-profit Black Children’s Institute of Tennessee. It is located on the upper level of the mall. She got a letter from mall management Friday tell her the organization had 30 days to leave the mall.
She said the termination of BCI’s lease will cost her organization a lot of money.
“We’ve not been here a year yet and had invested a lot in fixing it up and remodeling. So being a non-profit, that was quite a shock,” Veasy said.
The revitalization of the mall has already started. Work is underway on Nashville State Community College’s satellite campus. It will be located in the former Dillard’s department store building.
As part of Mayor Dean’s plan to reinvent the mall as a community space, the new Hickory Hollow mall will include a public library, recreation center and a green space.
It was unclear if the retail stores will reopen inside the revitalized Hickory Hollow Mall.
Source:newschannel5.com
