Mall mystery: New managers silent on plans for Lafayette site

Amanda McElfresh | The Daily Advertiser

Show Caption Hide Caption What the mall of the future may look like By changing their tech and branding, malls are growing up along with us. Aidan Kelley has the story.

In February, a federal judge appointed Spinoso Real Estate Group to manage the Acadiana Mall after its previous owner, CBL Properties, failed to reach an agreement to pay more than $125 million to lenders.

So what does that mean for Acadiana Mall? More than four months after the management switch, that remains hazy.

"Our firm is charged with conducting the leasing and property management of the mall until the foreclosure, which we expect will occur sometime during 2018," said Tom Herman, president/principal of Spinoso.

"Unfortunately, at this time, we are not able to share any other information or plans relating to the property," Herman added.

Meanwhile, some leading commercial real estate firms across the country declined to speak about Spinoso, sometimes citing a lack of knowledge about their operations.

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Ellen Dunham-Jones, a professor at Georgia Tech who studies malls and shopping centers around the United States, said the Spinoso name “does not ring a bell.”

“That doesn’t mean they haven’t been involved in other mall revitalizations, but I’m not aware of them as an experienced player in bringing new uses to mall properties,” she wrote in an email. “They appear to be strictly retail-oriented.”

Herman said Spinoso has leased and/or managed 34 malls in the United States since 2012. This includes sites in New York, California, South Carolina, Tennessee and more.

Some of these malls appear similar to Acadiana Mall — struggling with new consumer shopping habits and the closure of large department stores like Sears, which often are anchor stores for traditional malls.

Stacey Keating, a spokeswoman for CBL Properties, said the company does not plan to resume ownership of the Acadiana Mall in the future.

“After undergoing comprehensive discussions with the lender to pursue a restructure of the existing loan, we were unable to come to a mutually agreeable resolution,” Keating wrote. “As a result, we are cooperating with the foreclosure proceedings.”

In a conference call with shareholders earlier this year, CBL Chief Financial Officer Farzana Khaleel said lenders wanted a short-term solution, while CBL wanted a long-term solution.

“…We were not going to invest our funds or our efforts into this mall to revitalize this mall on a short-term basis. It just doesn’t happen overnight,” Khaleel said on the call.

Besides Sears, other mall stores that have closed in recent years include Brookstone and New York and Company. But there have been new additions, including Shi Shi Boutique, Torrid and T65.

Keating said the Acadiana Mall ownership change will have “no impact” on the Ambassador Town Center in Lafayette, another CBL property. The shopping center houses stores and restaurants such as Costco, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Home Goods, Chuy’s, Blaze Pizza and more.

In Louisiana, CBL also owns the Fremaux Town Center in Slidell.