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What Will New Owners Bring to St. Louis Outlet Mall?
By Bob Lindsey
An unnamed bidder went as high as $9 million in an online auction last week to purchase the struggling St. Louis Outlet Mall, which originally opened in 2003 as St. Louis Mills.
Bidding started at $1.5 million and the number shot way up during the final hours of the two-day auction last week, pleasantly surprising some local officials.
David Cox, Hazelwood’s economic development director, said he has heard from some potential buyers of the property prior to the auction. The name of the high bidder could come early this week, Cox said. He said he was told there were 9 or 10 bidders.
Hazelwood might be open to redoing the mall with more than just retail, including other commercial or even residential possibilities, Cox said. Industrial development would not be in the mix, “as current zoning prohibits that,” he noted. The original plans in the early 2000s called for redevelopment of the land for an industrial park.
St. Louis Mills opened in 2003 with a lot of promotion and fanfare and had about 200 shops in the mall, which stretched over a mile of space in the oval shaped mall. Auction.com, the online auction service that the mall’s ownership used, states that the mall is 77 percent occupied, compared to 84 percent a year ago.
Cox said the mall had experienced decline during the last two years, since Taubman Prestige Outlet and St. Louis Premier Outlet, owned by the same company that owns St. Louis Outlet Mall (LNR Partners LLC of Miami), had opened in Chesterfield. However, the occupancy at the 1.2 million-square-foot St. Louis Outlet Mall has declined for the past few years.
The mall still has the popular Cabela’s store which sits out from the mall, but has an entrance into the mall, the popular Regal 8 Theater, and the St. Louis Blues practice rink that draws many fans when the players are on the ice. However, most of the once popular food court locations are gone. There were four remaining on a visit there last week plus a new Southern style sit-down restaurant.
There have been claims that the mall is isolated, being located on Highway 370. But it’s less than two miles off Interstate 270 and back when it opened the location was considered a prime place for an outlet mall. That may have changed when the two new outlet malls opened in the Chesterfield Valley, offering close access to both St. Louis County and St. Charles County shoppers.
Mills Corp. Arlington, Va., opened the mall for $250 million in 2003. The most recent St. Louis assessment showed the property valued at $40 million this year. Mills has sold most of its malls except for a few more lucrative ones in areas such as Texas and Florida.
