Northlake Mall retailers told to vacate. Is a sale and redevelopment next?
When Tony Cade moved his comic book and games shop to Northlake Mall in Tucker, he expected to stay in his space for years.
He had to relocate his previous storefront at North DeKalb Mall when the dying retail center was sold to a firm looking to transform the property.
Now, after three years of operating Challenges Games and Comics out of a roomy Northlake space, it seems the same fate is befalling Cade.
At the end of the business day on Friday, Cade, along with roughly 10 other retail tenants in the mall, were given notice that they must vacate their spaces within 30 days.
It was an abrupt decision, one that led Cade to call the general manager. The reason given to Cade: the mall had been sold, he said.
“Hopefully there’s some kind of way we can get an extension,” Cade said. “For most of us, there’s no way we can get out of here in 30 days.”
Little else, including the identity of potential new owners or future plans, has been revealed to the retail tenants. Landlords ATR Corinth Partners called a meeting on Wednesday morning, but representatives did not show up, Cade said.
Both Emory Healthcare, which occupies a former Sears space in one wing of the mall, and restaurants, including Dugan’s, are not impacted. But several businesses, including Challenges, children’s formalwear shop called Happy Land, a spa and jewelry store, among others, will be forced to find new places to operate.
Whether the mall has new owners is still unclear. A sale has yet to populate into the DeKalb County property deeds. Decaturish first reported the notices to retailers.
Tony Ruggeri, a partner with ATR Corinth, confirmed certain tenants received notices to vacate, but declined further comment in a Wednesday phone call. When asked if there would be a time to find out more information, he said, “Yes, but it’s not going to come from us.”
A spokesperson for Emory University, which oversees Emory Healthcare, confirmed “Emory’s lease is not impacted” but declined further comment. The spokesperson did not respond to an additional request asking if Emory had acquired the mall, or whether it made an offer to buy it.
The city of Tucker also has not been notified of what’s happening. A spokesperson for the city said it does not have open applications or zoning or permitting requests for Northlake Mall and has not been part of any conversations. Mayor Anne Lerner said in an email that the city was not told about “the evictions nor of any sale.”
“Our economic development team is also in the process of following up directly with each of the business owners to understand their needs and connect them with potential leasing opportunities within Tucker,” Lerner said in the email.
What happened to Northlake Mall?
It was quiet Wednesday inside Northlake Mall. It’s been quiet for a long time.
The central elevator is broken, more than half the storefronts shuttered and the food court is mostly closed. A photographer was walking around Wednesday taking photos of a friend in 1980s era clothing, finding a fitting background in the food court awash in pastels. Mall walkers in tennis shoes circled both floors of the complex.
Malls are hubs for commerce, but at Northlake even a vending machine had a sign listing it for sale.
The number of tenants in the mall has dwindled over the years, a hard reality for what was one of the region’s largest shopping centers when it opened in 1971. But its fortunes mirrored the fates of many of its peers. Evolving shopping tastes coupled with the popularization of e-commerce have taken their toll on malls, including many in the Atlanta area, forcing owners to find new uses for their cavernous interiors and sprawling parking lots.
Nearby North DeKalb was torn down to make room for a mixed-use development called Lulah Hills. North Point Mall in Alpharetta is being evaluated as a site for a potential sports and entertainment center, aiming to snag a professional hockey team.
In 2021, when Northlake was celebrating its 50th anniversary, ATR Corinth said it had about 70 tenants. Now, it is merely a fraction of that.
One wing of the mall, however, is bustling, with at least 100 cars parked in the nearby parking lot at midday Wednesday, a clear contrast to the rest of the mall. Emory Healthcare leases 224,000 square feet of space it uses for medical and administrative offices in a former Sears department store, space enough to hold more than 1,000 employees.
A sign at the property directs visitors to a Emory Healthcare primary care clinic, mammography services and medical laboratories.
ATR Corinth, a real estate management firm from Dallas, Texas, acquired the mall in 2016 for $24 million. That was already a steep discount from the previous time the mall traded hands, which was when Simon Property Group — the firm that owns Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza in Buckhead — paid $71 million to acquire the Tucker mall in 2001.
It soon became clear that its future wasn’t as a traditional shopping center. Emory signed its lease in 2019. Last year, Trammell Crow Residential and Corinth pitched building nearly 500 apartment units at Northlake. Trammell Crow Residential did not respond to a request for comment on whether this project is still moving forward.
Macy’s, the last department store at Northlake, closed its doors in April. ATR Corinth doesn’t own the former Macy’s department store. Macy’s maintains ownership. A spokesperson said Wednesday the company has “no announcements to make” regarding the closed store.
The mall’s dwindling occupancy appears to have affected its debt obligations, according to real estate records. A $3 million loan from Allen & Peter Investment Partners to ATR Corinth Partners, which has the mall as collateral, recently had its March maturity date extended through Dec. 21.
Where are retailers going?
Cade opened Challenges at Northlake about three years ago. His space was leased as-is, and he immediately got to work fixing problems. There were holes in the walls, many of the light fixtures didn’t work and the air conditioning stopped functioning. He estimates he spent about $30,000 out-of-pocket to repair the space.
But the work paid off. Challenges became a gathering spot for much of Atlanta’s comics and pop culture fiends, with Cade organizing events for players of Magic: The Gathering and other games, chess tournaments and signings with artists and other creatives.
Cade said he has a long history with Northlake, having worked within the JCPenney catalog department in the 1980s. He liked keeping his shop at Northlake because it was close to his home, had plenty of parking and 24-hour security. Card shops all across the country, including Atlanta, are often targeted by thieves. It was also inexpensive relative to other mall space in the metro area.
Cade frets he will be unable to make the 30-day deadline to leave. It’s not usual for landlords to only provide 30 days to vacate, even if their tenants are on month-to-month leases.
When Cade left North DeKalb, he was given 90 days to vacate, and knew about the incoming change before then. They had time to prepare and save up for the relocation.
He’s looked for other spaces in DeKalb, but they are significantly more expensive than his current space. One quote he received was $7,500 a month, which is double what they’re paying now. The redevelopment of many of Atlanta’s aging malls means there are fewer inexpensive retail spaces for mom-and-pop shops like Challenges.
“The problem is so many people now are buying stuff online and they’re not doing the community thing anymore,” he said. “The mall is where you went and hung out, it’s where you went to meet people. Now you just get on your phone and swipe left or right.”
About the Authors
Savannah Sicurella is an entertainment business reporter with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Zachary Hansen, a Georgia native, covers economic development and commercial real estate for the AJC. He's been with the newspaper since 2018 and enjoys diving into complex stories that affect people's lives.
