MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — For several decades, malls have been on a steady decline. Experts point to online shopping and the pandemic. Now, the assessed value of some of Mecklenburg County's malls shows a drop in property value.
“It’s been very difficult for some of those malls to hold onto tenants given the issues we’ve seen with crime, and other issues around the city," attorney Larry Shaheen, who handles property valuation appeals, said.
These days it's challenging to be a mall owner. Shaheen said it's time for malls to reinvent themselves.
“Those who are actually owning them, they need to reposition the product to be more applicable to what we're seeing the Gen Z’s and those ongoing generations want, you’re going to need more bars, more breweries,” Shaheen said.
SouthPark Mall, still a popular retail destination, showed a value drop from $323 million in 2019 to $274 million. Northlake Mall, which has had three shootings over the last few months, dropped by $150 million in 2019 to $274 million. Carolina Place is also seeing a decline.
“When you look at those types of properties, we’ve seen rents for those properties in many cases go down, we’ve seen vacancy levels continue to go up, we’ve even seen expenses increase," Mecklenburg County Assessor Ken Joyner said.
Joyner said while the values have dropped due to the change in how people buy, the property is still valuable. He also said it doesn't represent the entire picture of the value of commercial property in Mecklenburg County.
“The fact that the malls went down slightly is not vindictive of the entire commercial market," Joyner said.
Still, it's likely the different property owners will appeal.
It's important to note the Arboretum and Charlotte Premium Outlets saw a slight value increase.
Still, experts say there will be to be a shift for these malls to be successful in the long run.
Contact Lexi Wilson at lwilson@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.