Coutesy / Eastern Retail Properties
A rendering by Eastern Retail Properties shows tenanted property and potential lease sites at Augusta's Turnpike Mall.
June 28, 2019
Augusta's Turnpike Mall, historic but beset by vacancies, sold for $3.2 million
Photo / Maureen Milliken
The Turnpike Mall in Augusta was once anchored by Sears, which has been closed since 2017. The mall was sold in May to a New York real estate development firm.
By Maureen Milliken
The largely empty 214,900-square-foot Turnpike Mall in Augusta has been sold to a New York real estate development firm that specializes in acquisition of retail and office buildings.
The $3.2 million sale closed in May, according to The Boulos Co.'s website, after being approved by a federal court in March. The mall's previous owners, doing business as Taurus Augusta Mall LLC, had petitioned for bankruptcy in March 2018. Sun Equity Partners, doing business as SEP Augusta LLC, initially made an offer in January and it was approved by the court March 26, according to court documents.
Brokers were Chris Paszyc and Derek Miller, of Boulos, representing the seller and Mike Hotarek, of Eastern Retail Properties, representing the buyer. Eastern Retail Properties is the brokerage arm of Sun Equity Partners.
Sun Equity Partners is a privately held real estate investment and development firm founded in 2010 that specializes in the acquisition, expansion, renovation and operation of office retail, shopping centers and residential properties, according to its website. The firm focuses on properties in key metropolitan markets as well as urban housing projects and other markets. As of 2016, Sun owned or retained ownership in more than 10 million square feet across the United States, the website said.
Actively leasing spaces
While no one was immediately available to comment on plans, Eastern Retail Properties is listing mall space for lease, with spaces ranging from 2,515 square feet to 71,335 square feet, which could be subdivided.
It also cites a proposed fitness center in one of the empty units and two proposed pad spaces at the eastern edge of the parking lot, on Whitten Road.
The mall was built in 1967 and opened in 1969, the first enclosed mall in the state, according to several sources. It was Augusta's third mall, after the Augusta Plaza, in 1961, and Capitol Shopping Center, now Shaw's Plaza, in 1966. Both are on Western Avenue.
Photo / Maureen Milliken
The interior of Augusta's Turnpike Mall, where seven of nine units are empty. It once had a two-screen movie theater, among other stores.
Still has potential
The mall went into receivership in 2018 after defaulting on a loan to Wells Fargo, according to the court documents.
When Boulos listed the property in September, Paszyc told Mainebiz that he still sees great potential for mall properties.
“It is undeniable that bricks and mortar retail is in transition,” he said. “However, its demise is vastly overstated. You wouldn’t see digital players like Amazon and Walmart making huge investments in physical locations otherwise. The keys are location, high traffic counts, tremendous visibility, ease-of-access, barriers to market entry and 'last-mile' logistics. Turnpike Mall checks all of these boxes.”
The mall is off Exit 109 in Augusta, and on the corner of Western Avenue, which is also Route 202, an east-west route that links Augusta to the Lewiston-Auburn area. It's also the city's southern gateway and a main retail thoroughfare, and across from a large Hannaford supermarket. According to 2017 average daily traffic figures, 25,380 cars go by the mall every day on Western Avenue, and 19,201 get off Exit 109.
Photo / Maureen Milliken
The newer section of Augusta's Turnpike Mall, which houses Bed, Bath & Beyond, is still busy.
New stores open, old stores close
The Christmas Tree Shop and Bed, Bath & Beyond went into renovated and subdivided space that had housed an Ames department store, and was originally a Zayre's department store. Ames closed in 2002, and the 60,000 square feet was empty until the renovation and addition of the two stores.
Sears closed in 2017, and its 79,935 square feet is being divided by the new owner into 71,335 of retail or other space and 6,200 square feet of the end unit that once housed the Sears tire center. TJ Maxx also closed at the mall in 2017 after it opened a store in Marketplace at Augusta, the 1.3 million-square-foot open air mall that opened in the city's north end in 1995.
At its height, Sears anchored the north end and Zayre's the south end. Other charter stores were Mr. Paperback book store, Deorsey's record store, a Hit or Miss clothing store, a McCrory's five-and-dime store, and a two-screen movie theater, the Turnpike Mall Cinemas, among others.
Besides the Christmas Tree Shop and Bed, Bath & Beyond, the mall's tenants are Longhorn Steak House, which is on a pad near the entrance at Whitten Road, and an AAA Travel Service and a large Petco store in the interior area, where the are seven empty units.
August's Turnpike Mall
Courtesy / Google Maps
The Turnpike Mall in Augusta is off Exit 109 on Interstate 95, and at the intersection of U.S. Route 202 and Whitten Road.
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