Musings from Brian J. Noggle: Crestwood Mall To Become Land Boondoggle To Benefit Private Developer At Expense Of Taxpayer Money

Crestwood Mall To Become Land Boondoggle To Benefit Private Developer At Expense Of Taxpayer Money

Well, the actual headline is Crestwood mall to become open-air lifestyle center, but it looks to be another case of a mechanism to support the risk-free lifestyle large land developers enjoy in the 21st century:

Crestwood Plaza will be at least partially demolished and transformed into an open air lifestyle center, according to one of its new owners, Chicago-based Centrum Properties.

Centrum along with New York investment advisor Angelo, Gordon & Co purchased the 48-acre mall from Australian shopping-mall giant Westfield Group for an undisclosed sum. Westfield bought the mall, built in 1957, for $106.4 million in 1998.

The deal, reported first in the Post-Dispatch by columnist Joe Whittington two months ago, closed on March 26. The mall has been temporarily renamed Crestwood Court.

"It had not been aggressively managed for years," said Sol Barket, Centrum's managing partner of retail development. "We saw it as a great opportunity to create an open air lifestyle center."

A great opportunity to soak the taxpayers of another state, you mean.

"We will also require subsidies from the city of Crestwood," he said.

Of course.

The sale came as the mall's future was hanging in doubt. A number of retailers have pulled out of the center, including anchor retailer Dillard's Inc., which closed in October. Crestwood has two other anchors, Sears and Macy's.

You know why the future was in the balance and why traffic dwindled and whatnot? Partly, because businesses couldn't prognosticate what sort of cockamamie plan the city would come up with and get suckered into. Well, there it is.

Money paid to developers, or money not collected from developers. Meanwhile, watch your ballots for incremental tax increases to fund basic services that will suffer from a mysterious problem in lack of funds from existing sources.

- posted by Brian J. @ 2:07 PM