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Town Center at Cobb closed after Georgia Power says mall owners haven’t paid bills
wsbtv.com ^ | January 28, 2025

Posted on 01/28/2025 11:09:22 AM PST by Cecily

A popular mall in Cobb County is shut down on Tuesday “due to unforeseen circumstances.” But a Georgia Power representative says mall management and community leaders were made aware of the issues.

Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell dropped by Town Center at Cobb on Tuesday morning where she found a sign on the door confirming that the mall was closed.

Georgia Power says they have been working with Town Center for several months to resolve their “highly delinquent” bills. They went on to say that disconnecting service at the mall was a “last resort.”

(Excerpt) Read more at wsbtv.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: georgia; mall; retail
I wonder if the owners are not paying their mortgage either. The mall may be on the verge of foreclosure.
1 posted on 01/28/2025 11:09:22 AM PST by Cecily
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To: Cecily

Probably still collecting steep rents from tenants. Although tenants can also become very delinquent in paying those steep rents.


2 posted on 01/28/2025 11:11:57 AM PST by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
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To: Larry Lucido

When businesses hit hard times it becomes a game of musical chairs with layers of creditors.

Everyone tries to run away from the game before there are no chairs left.

:-)


3 posted on 01/28/2025 11:19:42 AM PST by cgbg (It is time to pull the Deep State out of the mass media--like ticks from a dog.)
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To: Cecily

The mall directory found online would indicate the mall is far from empty and has at least 2 major outlets - JC Penny and Macy’s.

A look for crime related stories came up with very little. As in two, with one of those from 2021...

This seems to be another casualty of “Bidenomics”. If tight security isn’t on site, then kiss the facility goodbye.


4 posted on 01/28/2025 11:22:27 AM PST by ASOC (This space for rent)
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To: Cecily

There are two kinds of malls:

The malls the white people go to.
The malls the white people used to go to.


5 posted on 01/28/2025 11:23:43 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Cecily

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_Center_at_Cobb

Town Center. Soon to be joining....

https://www.deadmalls.com/


6 posted on 01/28/2025 11:24:06 AM PST by Responsibility2nd (Man made Climate Change is Real. Cal. Officials responsible for the fires just proved it.)
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To: dfwgator

This is so true....


7 posted on 01/28/2025 11:31:21 AM PST by packrat35 (Pureblood! No clot shot for me!)
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To: dfwgator

One of Chris Rock’s many moments of truth.

“The thing that makes me most happy is doing stand up. Being on the road, on tour, checking out America. There’s no more America. Remember when we were kids it was America? You go see your grandma, go to her little town? There’s no more little towns, it’s all malls. All malls and they’re all the same. The same mall St. Louis is the same mall in Detroit. Got the same Gap, Banana Republic, Chest King, Sunglasses Hut, all the same crap. And every town’s got two malls: they got the white mall, and the mall white people used to go to. ‘Cause there ain’t nothing in the black mall. Nothing in the black mall but sneakers and baby clothes.”


8 posted on 01/28/2025 11:34:46 AM PST by Blueflag (To not carry is to choose to be defenseless.)
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To: Blueflag

“There’s a civil war going on with black people, and there’s two sides, black people and _______s. And _______s have got to go!”

The thing about that routine is that the audience was mostly black and they were right there with him 100%.


9 posted on 01/28/2025 11:37:50 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Cecily

Must not be popular enough.


10 posted on 01/28/2025 11:38:19 AM PST by alternatives?
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To: Cecily

The number of tenants in that mall has been in steady decline. Everyone shops online for the most part now, so you’ll see brick and mortar businesses get more and more scarce.


11 posted on 01/28/2025 11:39:53 AM PST by TermLimits4All ("If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything.")
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To: TermLimits4All

That’s all well and good, until Amazon becomes the only distributor of goods.


12 posted on 01/28/2025 11:42:40 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator

Yes, but this was supposed to be the white people’s mall. It’s been a while since I was in the area, but Cumberland mall between there and the river used to have diverse customers, as there was a bus route than ran from there across the river to connect with MARTA.


13 posted on 01/28/2025 11:46:13 AM PST by PAR35
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To: Responsibility2nd

Thanks for the links. It looks like it was foreclosed back in 2021, and it has lost a string of anchor stores. A mall can survive losing one anchor, when the second one goes, it is just a matter of time.


14 posted on 01/28/2025 11:51:39 AM PST by PAR35
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To: PAR35; dfwgator

Did Town Center add a bus stop?

That one thing is the start to being added to deadmalls.com.


15 posted on 01/28/2025 11:55:39 AM PST by Responsibility2nd (Man made Climate Change is Real. Cal. Officials responsible for the fires just proved it.)
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To: ASOC

Most malls, their tenants pay their own electric bill. Chances are the common areas are the issue since the mall manages it.


16 posted on 01/28/2025 12:20:01 PM PST by Mean Daddy
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To: dfwgator

Amazon is mostly cheap crap from China now. It’s like the Harbor Freight of the internet.


17 posted on 01/28/2025 12:30:08 PM PST by TermLimits4All ("If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything.")
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To: TermLimits4All

BETCHA MACY’s CLOSES THAT STORE


18 posted on 01/28/2025 12:33:43 PM PST by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
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To: Cecily

A friend who did real estate for an upscale national specialty retail apparel chain told me his rules of thumb for leasing at a mall. He literally walked a mall he was evaluating, and counted the boarded up stores, before even talking to the mall owner. He also personally observed shoppers on various days at various times. He could quickly discern if the mall traffic was made up of buyers, lookers, or pilferers.

As a rule of thumb a mall nearing 10% vacancy is in trouble and heading the wrong direction. Extreme due diligence is required. Never sign a long term lease if vacancy is over 10%.

A mall with 20% vacancy is already in the death spiral. Walk away.

My friend hated malls and especially mall owners. He preferred placing stores in upscale open air centers and suburban/urban shopping/restaurant districts catering to high income shoppers, particularly in resort areas. He called the death of malls over 25 years ago.

In 2020 Simon Property Group, the largest owner of shopping malls in the USA, purchased JC Penney which was in bankruptcy. Simon could not afford to lose the number of anchor store leases a JC Penney liquidation would have created in its malls.

Macy’s has announced it is closing 150 stores. Likely most are in mall locations. The closure of a major anchor store, such as Macy’s, is a strong indication the mall is in trouble.


19 posted on 01/28/2025 12:50:05 PM PST by Soul of the South (The past is gone and cannot be changed. Tomorrow can be a better day if we work on it.)
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To: Cecily

Town Center Mall is pretty nice, good area with a lot of retail, (not located in a ‘diverse’ neighborhood). Very convenient from I-75 and my wife stops off at Macy’s a good bit. She’ll be upset if the mall closes.


20 posted on 01/28/2025 1:21:20 PM PST by Roadrunner383
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