North DeKalb Mall Sold, “Open-Air Concept” Planned
Decatur Metro | May 16, 2014 | 9:15 amInteresting. From the Atlanta Business Chronicle…
Lennar Commercial Investors LLC teamed with Sterling Organization to buy North DeKalb Mall for an undisclosed sum.
The development team, which also includes Atlanta-based Hendon Properties, plans to convert the enclosed portion of the property to an open-air concept. Lennar and Sterling acquired ownership interest in the property and Sterling will manage the center. Timing on the redevelopment has not been set.
Satellite view courtesy of Google Maps
Everything old is new again! Lenox Square was originally an open air mall and was closed in to keep up with the times (the times being the go-go 60s).
Yep. North DeKalb Mall was actually the first closed-in mall in metro Atlanta. Now it looks like it will be the first to be converted to open-air.
Although it was never enclosed, isn’t Ansley Mall an “open air” mall?
Well, they call it a mall, so I guess so. Not sure what qualifies a shopping center as a mall when it’s not indoors. I certainly think of The Forum in Norcross as an open-air mall.
I never thought of Ansley as a mall, despite the name. It doesn’t have a large anchor other than supermarkets. I always considered it an upscale strip center.
Years ago that a big Woolworth Store & a Morrison Cafeteria which was always crowded.
North DeKalb was still an open air mall when we moved to Decatur in the early 80s. Rich’s was there, and a Woolworth’s about where the Rack Room is now. It was all open in between, but don’t remember the other stores. It was closed in and then the addition came with Lechmere, and then PharMor, and Mervyn’s and Uptons – lots of now-bankrupt businesses have been there. And there were plenty of closed in malls before North DeKalb was enclosed. Lenox was enclosed before North DeKalb, and Cumberland and Northlake were both built as enclosed malls in the 70s.
Actually N. Dekalb mall was the first enclosed mall in the state. Rich’s originally didn’t choose to go into Northlake because of their N. Dekalb location. They regretted that decision when Northlake became the more “in” place. Lenox was still open in the middle at the time.
As a teenager, I lived in the neighborhood across the street from N. DeKalb Mall but much preferred Northlake because they had Record Bar.
Actually the first enclosed mall in the state was Westgate Mall in Macon, GA which opened in 1961. The first enclosed mall in Metro Atlanta was Columbia Mall, later Avondale Mall. It was anchored by Davison’s and Sears and demolished in 2007
North DeKalb was never open air. It was the very first enclosed mall in GA. I remember it well from when it opened. I worked at the Rich’s there on and off for years.
I think it will destroy the place if they take the roof off and turn it into a strip mall. 🙁
This is not the first time this has been planned. It was originally supposed to become an open-air mall a number of years ago with Costco as an anchor (I would love to have a Costco that close).
Or a Sam’s Club. Er, maybe not.
Costco yes – Sam’s Club no
Although this rumor frequently pops up, and I will only believe it when it happens, earlier this week I heard that Costco is in negotiations to open a store at North Dekalb.
Would love a Costco there! It’s a nightmare to drive to the one in Brookhaven
IMO, the Dunwoody location is much easier (and faster) to get to than the Brookhaven one. Yeah, it’s further away, but on the weekends, that trip around 285 is a piece of cake.
+1. That’s the one we hit on the weekends. But I work very close to Cumberland, so I can also hit that one on the way home sometimes. Having one at North Dekalb would be epic, but I’ve been burned too many times by that rumor in the past…
That’d be amazing. Especially if they have a liquor store. Perimeter location is the only one with a liquor store in the metro area, I think.
Years ago, Hendon Properties had a community meeting about North DeKalb Mall–including their possible plans for an open-air ‘lifestyle’ center. One nugget of information they gave out was that the Macy’s store/building is owned by Macy’s and is not part of the mall property. They had tried to get Macy’s up remodel the store, at least allow Hendon Properties to paint the outside, but Macy’s would not give them permission. It will be interesting to see how Macy’s deals with this redevelopment.
Also, a new sign has appeared on the property where RaceTrac wanted to build a gas station (across L’vill Hwy from QuickTrip)–“Future Home of State of the Art Memory Care Community”.
the anchor tenants/department stores almost always own their spaces in malls, and have rights to approve or nix plans for the overall mall. also, the other big tenants have very long leases that would have to be terminated in order to raze the property, which means the landlord/developer has to pay for them to walk away and that can make the cost go up enough that their plans may not make financial sense. like others said, there have been a lot of things announced for this property over the years — I’ll believe the latest when I start seeing dirt moved around.
I only go to Macy’s and the movie theater — the inside is just too depressing
I noticed the “Memory Care” sign today also.
I was confused whether that was the Racetrac site, and am kind of glad it is.
It’s strange that they would build-to-suit, rather than move into the new building across from the Wendy’s. Does anyone know if there are any tenants for that building yet? They seem to be taking their time finishing, so I am guessing they are having trouble with leasing.
Anything would be an improvement. Walking inside isn’t exactly a pleasure, total dead zone.
It’s the place I met Isaac Hayes and Bishop Desmond Tutu (on separate occasions). It should be a shrine.
A shrine it should be for another reason: that’s where the L’ville Hwy area local pre-preliminaries for American Idol are held.
Big, flat roofs cost a lot to maintain. I just hope they invest some of the savings in sprucing the place up.
I hope this does not impact the annual visit from the best santa ever….. I have a decade of photos of my kids with him!
My thoughts exactly. We have been taking photos with that santa for 7 years straight. Not only do we love him, but I’m worried that switching Santas will cause my soon to be 7 year old to totally overthink the whole thing and that will lead nowhere good…!
Best. Santa. Ever. We recently moved out of state, and actually flew back in to town this past xmas so our 6 year old could see that Santa.
Yes, we always said that this was the real Santa. He is great.
Yes! Save NDeKalb Mall Santa! He rocks.
Showing my age here, but when I was in High School we went to N DeKalb Mall and it was open air then. Hope they keep Macy’s!
I hope that Hendon’s new partners realize that the neighborhoods around N DeKalb are not impoverished and will seek better tenants. Macy’s needs a facelift but they own their own building. Maybe new tenants will spur Macy’s improvements. Sterling needs to put on its smart cap and not let Charlie H do the leasing.
I remember a closed central corridor between Richs and Woolworths in the late 1960’s with open air corridors extending off from the central corridor near the two anchors. An aerial photo on the Atlanta History Center website seems to confirm ths (google North DeKalb Mall history to get the link). Also, I believe that Decatur architect Hank Spiker was quite involved with the late 1980’s remodeling.
My high school choir sang there in 1979! And my son has 19 pictures with the North Dekalb Santa!
I won third place in the county in Pinewood Derby Finals at N. Dekalb Mall. Still have my winning racecar and trophy on display.
I also worked at Spinnaker’s Restaurant for a few years leading up to my 21st birthday. I learned more in my time working there (or rather, in my time immediately after my shifts) than all my school years combined and tripled.
Belvedere mall was the first mall in Atlanta. It was anchored by Rich’s, and was open air and smaller than Ansley. Bigger malls, then enclosed ones caused Rich’s (now Macy’s) to pull out. When Avondale Mall across the street died the whole area became depressed. . I was an assistant buyer for Rich’s long ago, and was there when Federated took it over and we went from locally owned to being a small part of a national chain. It was so sad. Rich’s was such a part of the cit’s history, honoring the scrip of the school teachers when the city couldn’t afford to pat them in the depression.
Count me amongst those who miss Rich’s with a powerful ache. Macy’s can’t hold a candle.
You’ve got one more week to see the excellent Rich’s exhibit at the Breman Jewish Museum in Midtown.
My memory of N.Dekalb is it never was open air. It
was build as an enclosed mall . Belvedere was never a mall
but had the first Rich’s store built outside Atlanta, it was a strip
shopping center. Next after N. Dekalb was S. Dekalb mall
If my memory serves me right Greenbriar was the 2nd enclosed Mall. I managed H. Stockton’s Mens wear in the early 70’s and it North Dekalb was an enclosed mall at that time.
Greenbriar, Columbia (Avondale), and North DeKalb were all built at about the same time. Columbia might have been the first to open.
N. DeKalb may have been semi-open air initially, but I remember it as enclosed by the early 70s.
I remember coming here in 1966 and being told that North Dekalb was being billed as the first enclosed mall in the state.
At the time when Lenox was open air , the anchor restaurant was Johannan’s (sp) where we had our rehearsal dinner.
I am really old.
Lennar is a residential builder/developer. Don’t be surprised if they add in some apartments or townhomes or both. Total speculation, but a distinct possibility nonetheless. If that does come to fruition, then that would be great, in my not-so-humble opinion.
Here’s a 1965 aerial photo taken just after the opening of the mall.
http://www.atlantatimemachine.com/commercialbldgs/north_dekalb.htm
I’ve seen people saying it was (and was never) an open-air center, and this photo seems to indicate that it was always an enclosed mall. Perhaps there were quite a few more stores way back when that offered direct access from the outdoor sidewalk, resulting in people remembering it as open air?
More North DeKalb mall history can be found here:
http://skycity2.blogspot.com/2006/07/north-dekalb-mall-updated_01.html
I think I can sort out the confusion.
The center of the mall was always enclosed. Before the redesign in the ’80s, there were more stores that opened to the outside and didn’t open into the mall.
In the Atlanta Time Machine photo (http://www.atlantatimemachine.com/commercialbldgs/north_dekalb.htm), the top left wing of the mall included the movie theater, a Milton Bradley store, and a drug store (Reed’s, I think). At top right is a Colonial supermarket. Other outward-facing stores ringed the mall on the left and right sides, including where Play It Again is now.
Several have written that they have a place in their heart for Rich’s. The Bremen museum in midtown has a special exhibit on the history of Rich’s. The exhibit runs through about May 26, so go see it soon. The exhibit was designed and executed by a Decatur resident who lives on Lamont Dr.
Saw it the other day – excellent with many memories.
It’s not the whole of Rich’s I miss as much as the fabulous Rich’s bakery and delicious lunches at the Magnolia Room.
Anyone remember the soda fountain/lunch place in the middle of Rich’s, about where hosiery is now? Upstairs, with a view out to the mall, was the Magnolia Room. Chicken salad almondine for special occasions. Usually we ate at Woolworths, or Morrison’s cafeteria. I think the drug store — Rexall?– also had a lunch counter. Not as good as Cook’s Drugs at Shamrock Plaza: Vanilla and cherry cokes. It was next to Allen’s 5 & 10.
North DeKalb had to have been the site of many first dates. Giordano’s for dinner, and a movie next door. If you didn’t like the movie, out of luck: One movie screen only.
I remember the stores that used to be there much more clearly than I remember the stores that are actually there now.
The best part of the old Rich’s at North DeKalb was the bakery! I looked forward to each and every birthday in our family because we always bought a coconut cake from Rich’s. The green and white cake boxes will be etched in my memory forever. I remember being so excited for the big remodel in the mid-80, then wandering around the new digs thinking, “I will never get out of this maze!”
Really hope this is a larger remodel and not just a Band-aid. Good news about changes.
I hate that this area is served by two Sam’s Clubs closer than any Costco. We’d been going to Sam’s for three years before trying Costco. Two years at Costco and definitely enjoyed it more than Sam’s, but the drive to Brookhaven/Perimeter is a big negative. We got a free membership at Sam’s this year and it’s been disappointing after our Costco experience. We’ll probably go back to Costco at the end of the year, but a touch reluctantly.
Also, hearing rumors of a TJ’s going into the next phase of Emory Pointe. That and the Costco/N. DeKalb reno rumors have me wondering if the great recession truly is over. Gourmet processed snacks for everyone!
Interesting perspective from another ‘dead’ mall. Its anchor doesn’t like the new town center plans.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-business/wp/2014/01/30/a-walking-tour-in-pictures-the-final-days-of-white-flint-mall/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/lord-and-taylor-says-no-to-plan-for-white-flint-mall/2013/07/12/e3ecc460-e964-11e2-a301-ea5a8116d211_story.html
I, for one, enjoy having a whole movie theater to myself. Didn’t see how it was sustainable for AMC, but I certainly enjoyed it.
Many of the malls where I come from are abandoned or dying. Last time I was in the main one, there were many empty spaces, and what wasn’t empty was repeated three times in different places. The BIG one (Rolling Acres Mall/Akron, Ohio) is abandoned now. I believe there are pictures of it and Canton Centre (formerly Mellett Mall) on the dead malls site.
I’m not sure how one city can sustain as many malls as we have here. Atlanta is a city of bargain and small business shoppers, neither of which can afford the rent at a big mall. I recently went into Cumberland after a many year absence. I found it really sad how empty it was.
BTW, there’s a great Dead Mall website, named, appropriately enough, Dead Malls dot Com; http://www.deadmalls.com .
Does anyone remember when the renovation was happening in the late 80’s while the mall was still open and the whole inside was narrow corridors with makeshift entrances to the stores that they were working around? I think they were selling it as “A Construction Christmas” (It probably had to be done like that because of how crazy changing a mall from a rectangle to a diamond shape is)
Yep. I remember it. My late teens. Also, you could still smoke in the mall then (I smoked at the time), but not in the stores, Remember those receptacles in front of Rich’s with all the half-smoked cigarettes stubbed out in them? Not saying I ever snagged one of those but I’m not saying I didn’t either.
When I was little, N. Dekalb Mall, to my mother, was nicer than Northlake, which did have a Rich’s. JP Allen was her go-to. There was also a large toy store near Rich’s, and, of course, the Woolworth’s.
That Costco proposal was nixed by the NIMBYs of the surrounding neighborhoods. I remember they even had petitions for and against adding a costco. I was FOR, of course. Anything they do to reinvigorate that neighborhood would be a plus.
I really wish they’d allow a Costco. NOT Sam’s (which is Walmart). Or even a BJ’s.
It is really funny how “open air” malls are coming back into style after a generation. What comes around goes around. 🙂
Costco wanted to further build on the surrounding flood plain. Since the houses downstream flooded then and now, further encroachment would have added to the water problem. It wasn’t just NIMBYs.
I did not hear anyone objecting to Costco. The parking deck down into the floodplain and right up the edge of the nature preserve was the issue. Costco hold out after the deck was rejected. It is not clear how much the economic collapse about that time had to do with the decision.
I’ve heavily researched the mall histories in the area, so here is as follows on the early malls:
Belvedere Plaza: it was always a strip, but it had a small open-air mall in the middle behind Rich’s that was two levels. When Rich’s was demolished in 1992 (closed in 1986), the old mall portion was filled in with Kroger Citi Center, which relocated in the same center. Rich’s opened in 1959 a couple months after Lenox did.
North Dekalb Mall: always enclosed since it opened in 1965 in the main corridor, but completely rebuilt in 1986. Rich’s and Woolworth’s were the only anchors
Columbia/Avondale Mall: the anchors were built first with the mall built inbetween in 1964 or 65. It was built as a joint venture between RH Macy and Sears/Homart anchored by Davison’s and Sears. Contrary to my earlier remark, it is unclear which mall came first: this or North DeKalb
Ansley Mall: built in 1964 anchored by Colonial/Big Star, Kroger and Woolworth’s
Briarcliff Village Mall: built in 1964 originally anchored by Kroger and Belk Gallant. Part of the mall still exists
Greenbriar Mall: built in 1965 fully enclosed anchored by Rich’s and Penney’s. The mall was designed by John Portman
Cobb Center Mall: built in 1963 anchored by Rich’s and Woolworth’s. Enclosed in 1972 adding Grant City, later Kessler’s. Closed in 1995 and demolished in 1998 except Rich’s.
Lakewood Center/Crossroads Mall: built in the 50’s as a strip and expanded to an open-air mall in the 60’s. It was anchored by a dry goods-only JCPenney and had Woolco added later. The center is in major decay with the back half of the mall demolished