Northlake Mall could go up for sale in a couple weeks, as broker named for that deal

Financially struggling Northlake Mall could be put up for sale by early October, new N.C. Business Court documents show.

It’s been three years since the two-story, 1.1-million-square-foot mall fell into receivership after failing to pay its debts. Spinoso Real Estate Group of Syracuse, New York, maintains and operates the mall, and collects rent.

Spinoso has been working to stabilize the north Charlotte shopping center to put the property on the market. It named JLL real estate company as the broker for the sale in its latest status report filed Monday with the court.

JLL “would be prepared to bring the property to market later this month or early October,” Melanie Johnson Raubach said in her status report. JLL is headquartered in Chicago with offices in Charlotte

As of July 31, Northlake’s occupancy was at 84%, including temporary leases, Raubach said in the report. That’s well below the average 95.1% occupancy rate in 2022 at top-tier malls, according to retail data analytics from Coresight Research.

The mall has signed three new leases occupying 97,000-square-feet of space for $552,000, according to the report. There also were nine renewals with rents of $953,000. The businesses were not named in the report.

Officials with Spinoso and JLL did not immediately respond to requests from comment Tuesday.

Security among reasons sale was delayed

Last year, Northlake Mall’s sale was pushed back until 2024 following high-profile security concerns, including three shooting incidents, followed by several store closings like Apple and Buckle. Spinoso officials added and increased several security measures.

“There are no security events of significance to report,” the mall said in its Monday filing.

The mall also had sued some tenants that left, like American Eagle. All of those cases have been settled, Raubach said in Monday’s report.

About Northlake Mall

Northlake Mall opened in 2005, and in 2014, Investment firm Starwood Capital purchased the mall for $248 million from original owner Taubman Center Inc.

The mall has 111 stores, according to its website, including department stores Belk, Dillard’s and Macy’s, and an AMC movie theater.

While some national chains have left, several locally-owned businesses have moved in, such as Charlotte’s Nails, Alpha Dogz and Destination Sweets.

Among recent store moves is Belk outlet, which opens Saturday. Charlotte-based Belk is reformatting its Northlake store by converting the upper level into a separate outlet store. The bottom level will remain as a regular Belk store.

The mall is in north Charlotte off Harris Boulevard near Interstate 77.

This is a developing story