West Park Mall going on auction block

This story has been edited to correct the name of the retail store that was in the space currently occupied by Ashley Furniture.

There’s a “for sale” sign in front of West Park Mall.

Figuratively, that is.

Once considered the center of retail activity in Southeast Missouri, the 40-year-old mall will be sold to the highest bidder in an online auction later this month.

To be more specific, all but about a 100,000-square-foot section of the mall that houses J.C. Penney will be included in the sale; that portion of the building is under separate ownership.

The two-day virtual sale of the remaining 409,000-square-foot structure and surrounding property, including parking for more than 3,400 vehicles, will start June 28. The minimum bid will be $1.5 million, but it’s believed it will take substantially more to win the auction.

What’s it worth?

Built and originally owned by Drury Development Corp., West Park Mall has changed hands — and names — several times since opening in March 1981. Over the years, it has also been known as Westfield Shoppingtown, Westfield Shoppingtown West Park and Westfield West Park.

The West Park Mall is seen from above Wednesday in Cape Girardeau.Sarah Yenesel

It became known as West Park Mall again in 2006 when it was purchased by Australia-based Centro Properties Group for a reported $64.3 million. However, it was only valued at about $16 million the last time it was appraised in 2020, according to Cape Girardeau County Assessor Bob Adams.

Its current owner, LNR Partners LLC of Miami Beach, Florida, is working with a New York-based broker to handle the upcoming sale.

LNR Partners senior vice president John Mitchell told the Southeast Missourian his firm is serving as a “special servicer” in the mall sale and as such he said he is optimistic the property will attract multiple bidders.

“The special servicer is hopeful some of these prospective bidders will be regional buyers while others will be more national in their footprint of mall and/or retail ownership,” he said.

He also explained because is it held under a “separate and unrelated” ownership, J.C. Penney pays a pro rata share of common area expenses, but will not be affected by the auction of the rest of the mall property.

Thomas Dobrowski, vice chairman of capital markets with Newmark, said he believes West Park Mall is an attractive property with a substantial amount of potential despite the closure of one of its anchor stores, Macy’s, earlier this year.

The West Park Mall is seen from above Wednesday in Cape Girardeau.Sarah Yenesel

“West Park Mall checks all the boxes with respect to the type of regional mall investors are targeting today,” he said.

Interest in the Macy’s space

“Under current ownership, the mall has been stabilized with the lease of the former [Steve & Barry’s] box (originally occupied by Venture) to Ashley Furniture and the next owner will be able to continue down the path toward revitalization with re-tenanting of the former Macy’s box which has also received interest from national retail operators,” Dobrowski continued.

He did not elaborate on which “national retail operators” are considering the former Macy’s space, but the online listing about the mall auction referenced “a national sporting goods operator who has expressed interest in joining the mall through an anchor backfill scenario.”

West Park Mall is managed by CBL Properties based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is unclear how the sale will affect CBL’s relationship with the mall.

“We won’t know until the auction is completed,” said Stacey Keating, CBL’s senior director of public relations and corporate communications.

Keating said CBL Properties will monitor the auction as will John Mehner, president of the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce.

“Anytime you have a change of ownership like that there is opportunity,” Mehner said. “We stand ready to work with whoever the new owner is on plans and ideas for the mall.”

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