The Monroeville Mall has been bought out by Walmart in an impressive $34 million deal. The deal, long-awaited by the surrounding community, is a redevelopment project being managed by Texas-based Cypress Equities on behalf of Walmart Corporations.
Cypress Equities will manage the mall for the new owners and will lead the way to reimagining the mall as a competitive retail and commercial location. Cypress CEO Chris Maguire has high hopes, revealing in a statement that the 1.4 million square foot property is ideal for repositioning towards retail, entertainment, restaurants, residential, hospitality, office, and public spaces.
The deal between Cypress, Walmart, and the mall was in place since Saturday, February 1st, with finalizations completed early February 4th. Parking, cleanliness, and low lighting are being addressed first, according to Maguire.
Community engagement is a large goal for Cypress Equities, “We’ll talk to the local community. We’ll do focus groups, studies. We’ll do our higher-level demographic/psychographic analysis to figure out who is living there,” said Maguire.
The scene of the horror classic “Dawn of the Dead,” the Monroeville Mall has been an integral part of the community since 1969, and was a bustling place in the 90s and 2000s. Now, the mall is surviving by big names such as Macy’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, JCPenney, and Cinemark. Many other businesses have left the mall in recent years, a growing trend among malls and shopping centers across the country.
This mall purchase is a first of its kind for Walmart, who also revealed they have no plans of purchasing any other malls in the future. Cypress CEO Maguire pointed out that this deal could inspire other similar projects, sparking a potential new beginning for the malls of the past.
