CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The sale of Northlake Mall was approved by a judge Friday.
The $39 million sale transitions the troubled shopping area from Spinoso Real Estate Group to Georgia-based Hull Properties, court documents show. The price is a stark difference from Northlake’s previous sale in 2014, $248 million.
The sale was ordered by Special Superior Court Judge Adam Conrad. It states Spinoso must take all necessary actions to finalize the sale.
Spinoso came into receivership of Northlake in 2021 after its property owners, TM Northlake Mall LLC, defaulted on a loan worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Hull Properties owns six malls in North Carolina, including Carolina Mall in Concord.
The north Charlotte mall has seen an exodus of major retailers since the pandemic. Dick’s Sporting Goods, Apple, American Eagle and Michael Kohrs have all left, with a host of locally owned businesses filling vacations. Macy’s, Belk and Dillard’s remain anchors along with an AMC movie theater.
Records indicate that Spinoso stabilized tenancy at the mall that positioned it for a potential sale. The group hired real estate company Jones Lang LaSalle to market the mall’s sale. Jones identified more 11,000 potential buyers, but Hull made the “highest and best offer.”
In addition to tenant turnover, there were several shootings at the mall in 2022 and 2023. Two of the victims’ lawyers filed a motion to stop the sale, claiming it would affect their ability to recover any judgement in a lawsuit against the mall.
The other objection to the sale came from Ryan Investment Group LLC, claiming it was not made aware of the sale until recently and the proposed price undervalued the mall’s property, which has a $162 million tax value. Neither claim was deemed worthy to set aside the transaction.
Despite the troubles, the area around the mall has seen a flurry of apartment developments in recent years. The Long Creek/Dixon Branch Greenway also was constructed across Northlake Centre Parkway next to Target.
The sale requires an upfront deposit of $5 million.
Northlake Mall opened in 2005, and has 583,532 square feet of commercial space off West W.T. Harris Blvd. and Interstate I-77.
