STAUNTON - The Staunton Mall is up for auction, according to an online listing.

The entire mall is set to go to auction noon on Oct. 15, according to a listing on Loopnet.com, an online marketplace for commercial property. The starting bid, according to the site, is set at $1.75 million.

The auction will be online through an online auction service called Ten-X.com. Ten-X is a digital platform that buyers can log onto in order to bid. The auction will be held from Oct. 15 to 17.

Colliers International is the brokerage firm handling the auction, according to the site. Colliers International agent Jay O'Donnell in Charlottesville has the property listed on his profile under properties for sale.

According to O'Donnell, the current owners want to put the property up for auction in an attempt to argue the current assessment of the property.

The property located in Augusta County is valued at $9.3 million, according to Augusta County tax information. That includes the almost 35 acres the mall sits on, four buildings and other improvements, according to tax records. The land alone is valued at almost $2.8 million.

O'Donnell said the property is more likely valued at $6 to $7 million.

"The owners wants to have some real-time offers to come to argue that assessment and go back to the county," O'Donnell said.

But if the owners got a good offer, they would sell, O'Donnell said.

This isn't the first time the mall had issues with the county's assessment.

In 2015, former owners Staunton Mall Realty Management said its taxes were erroneously assessed from 2010 through 2013, with the county putting the mall's value at $19.3 million. However, attorney James Downey, who represents the former owners, placed the mall's value at $4.05 million.

An assessor for the realty company later revised the mall's fair market value upward to $6.5 million, still leaving Augusta County a $12.8 million discrepancy. According to court records, the case was dismissed.

The mall dates back to 1960s, but was enclosed in the 1980s. It has almost 450,000 square feet. According to the listing, "the surrounding municipalities are firmly behind a redevelopment of the property."

"Ownership has strategically kept short-term leases in place to insure that future opportunities may be capitalized on, including the potential to redevelop or reposition the site under general business zoning," the listing said. "All non-outparcel leases expire or have an option to terminate within the next three years."

Current zoning allows for retail, hotel, multi-family and office, the listing said.

"This is a rare opportunity to purchase an income producing, redevelopment or repositioning opportunity at the intersection of Interstates 81 and 64 along a heavily trafficked corridor in Staunton," the listing said. "The offering includes leases to national tenants along with valuable outparcel leases. Flexible zoning allows for a mixed-use redevelopment to cater to the surrounding population and adjacency to travelers and commuters along I-81 and I-64."

Early Thursday, Staunton Mall manager Dee Gorden said she wasn't sure if the auction listing was current. She said similar listings have posted circulating since new management took over a number of years ago. Asprey Real Estate Corporation took over management of the mall in 2015. Since then, the property has appeared on and off of listing sites.

"Corporate hasn't told me," Gorden said Thursday morning. "I do not know."

By Thursday afternoon, Gorden was informed that Asprey Real Estate was putting the mall up for auction for tax reassessment purposes. She said she was told to continue leasing spaces out and for now, nothing is changing.

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Mall history

The mall has seen a number of its stores leave, including most recently Hibbett Sports and within the past two years store like Peebles, the Family Christian Bookstore, the Shoe Department and other local tenants.

In 2018, after Peebles announced it would be closing at Staunton Mall, then-management said more stores would be coming to take up the empty spaces throughout the mall.

Since then, the mall has seen a decline in occupancy. The mall is at a 56% occupancy. According to Gorden, the mall has 31 spaces leased out — including the out parcels like where Dollar Tree, Red Lobster and McDonalds are located. There are 24 empty spaces at the mall, Gorden said.

The Staunton Mall also lost two big tenants in 2017 — CrossFit Staunton and Staunton Health and Fitness. The two businesses announced they would be moving to the former Elliott Auto dealership just down Greenville Avenue from the mall to join another former mall tenant, Head Over Heels Gymnastics.

In late 2017, the vacant movie theater in the mall was revamped and opened as Legacy Theaters, offering discounted movies. Also in 2017, Sooner BBQ out of Stuarts Draft opened up a second location in the mall's food court.

As the fitness tenants left, area churches began to move in. Now, Church United has leased out the spot that used to house Staunton Health and Fitness. The former CrossFit space had a church in it, but is now empty.

A new bookstore called Know Knew Books is set to hold its grand opening this weekend. No other new stores have been announced.

The mall has also seen a number of owners. Talks of selling came up in December 2013 under previous owner Mike Kohen, who owns multiple malls throughout the country. Kohen’s New York-based investment group bought the mall in 2010, with business challenges.

Kohen's Staunton Mall Realty LLC sold the property to Staunton Mall LLC in 2014 for $4.5 million.

Tenants and big anchor stores have been leaving the mall since the early 2000s. Once Montgomery Ward folded in 2001, the mall’s remaining anchors were J.C. Penney, Belk and Peebles. Now, it's just J.C. Penney and Belk at either end of the mall.

In 2008, a major tenant, Books-A-Million, moved to Waynesboro, while the clothing store Steve and Barry’s, which opened there in 2004, closed that same year.

Here's a rundown:

The property began as a strip mall in 1969.

In 1985, it was renovated and roofed in for indoor shopping.

In 2004, then-owner Colonial Properties Trust announced it wanted to sell what was then called Colonial Mall Staunton, along with five other malls it owned.

First Republic Group Realty purchased the property in 2007, renaming it Staunton Mall.

Staunton Mall Realty LLC bought the shopping center in November 2010 for $4.05 million when then-owner First Republic Realty was in bankruptcy. The company in 2010 canceled the lease of Regal Movie Theaters to run the cinema on its own. But that movie theater closed in 2012.



Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Dollar General instead of Dollar Tre. It has been corrected.

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You can reach reporter Laura Peters at lpeters@newsleader.com. Follow her @peterslaura.