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.
September 17, 2019
Developers take first step in Augusta mall revitalization
Photo / Maureen Milliken
The site leased by Texas Roadhouse at the Turnpike Mall in Augusta will be listed by mall owners SEP Augusta to generate capital for further improvements at the mall, which is largely empty.
By Maureen Milliken
The new owners of Augusta's Turnpike Mall plan to sell a pad site leased by the Texas Roadhouse restaurant in order to generate capital for redevelopment of the mall.
SEP Augusta LLC, which bought the mall earlier this year, got approval from the city's planning board last week to dedicate 95 of the mall's more than 1,000 parking spaces to the 20,115-square-foot restaurant lot, a requirement necessary to list it for sale.
The move is a "first step" to revitalize the 214,900-square-foot mall, said Jim Fisher of Northeast Civil Solutions Inc., representing SEP Augusta. SEP Augusta is part of New York-based real estate developer Sun Equity Partners, a privately held real estate investment and development firm that bought the mall in May for $3.2 million. The mall opened in 1969.
Fisher told the planning board Sept. 10 that the sale of the lot will allow the owners to recoup some of the initial investment. The planning board action does not specify particular parking spaces, but recognizes that 91 of the sprawling parking lot's spaces are available for that lot. Anyone shopping at the mall can use them, and those dining at Texas Roadhouse can park anywhere at the mall they want, both Fisher and city planning officials said.
"We are showing from a technical perspective that we have the 91 spaces that go with that structure," Fisher said. "Anyone going to the mall now, or in the future when it's plussed-up a bit will be able to park anywhere."
While the restaurant does brisk business — as do Christmas Tree Shop and Bed, Bath and Beyond at the south end of the mall — only three of the mall's nine interior units are occupied. One of those is with a Halloween pop-up store, the other two are a AAA travel agency and Petco.
He said the real estate group "has a reputation of taking a look at properties where there's an investment opportunity to turn things around a bit."
"We're not necessarily looking at overall distressed properties, but this is a perfect example of a property that has some great tenants in it and no tenants," Fisher said.
"We have some tenants that are current and that are very good," he said. "A lot of the rest of the area and the old Sears is vacant, and that doesn't do anybody any good, certainly not the city of Augusta, it doesn't do any good for the previous owner. It was a bit of a drain."
City hopes for a success story
In making the motion to approve the parking easement, planning board member Delaine Nye said, "I'm hoping it will mean that they will invest in the remaining property there, so that it will be a success for them, and a success story for Augusta as well."
The 80,000-square-foot unit that had been home to Sears, the anchor store at the mall since it opened in 1969, closed in 2017.
According to the brochure listing the property for lease, the Sears space is being divided by the new owner into two spaces — 71,335 of retail or other space and 6,200 square feet of the end unit that once housed the Sears tire center.
While Christmas Tree Shop and Bed, Bath & Beyond are connected to the mall, they have separate entrances. The largely empty part of the mall is enclosed. The lease listing shows spaces in that section ranging from 2,515 square feet to 71,335 square feet.
The lease 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, closer to the city's center.
The mall is off Exit 109 in Augusta, and on the corner of Western Avenue, which is U.S. 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.
When Nye asked about plans for the Sears unit and the rest of the property, Fisher said, "This is not an overnight process for sure, it's going to take a little while." He said that listing the Texas Roadhouse lot is the first step. "I'm sure you'll see us again."
Location of 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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Anonymous
February 29, 2020
Market Basket would be great
Anonymous
September 17, 2019
Send us a Trader Joe’s and a Home Goods!
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