Is the Steeplegate Mall Closing?

For weeks now, rumors have been circulating around Concord that the Steeplegate Mall would be closing. Type in “Steeplegate Mall” into a Google search and the next word that immediately appears is “closing.” The rumors, however, don’t appear to be true, although something is going on.

Jason Chudoba, the vice president of ICR, a strategic communications firm, speaking for the company, stated in an email that the mall “will continue to operate in the same quality fashion that it has done for many years” but the company was “exploring a number of initiatives as it relates to Steeplegate Mall and will update you in the future when we have additional information to share.”

What those initiatives are though is not exactly known.

Employees at the Concord Planning Department say the company hasn’t filed any new plans with the city about changing the property and they too haven’t heard anything.

Rumors about the health of the mall are nothing new, especially since the Great Recession, when a succession of stores in and around the mall began to have financial trouble or even close outright. Malls across the country have actually had a pretty rough time, financially, as the spending habits of Americans – i.e. lack of money, online shopping, etc. – has changed.

Rouse Properties, the owner of the mall, is a real estate investment trust that manages 34 malls in 21 states. The company overall had a better than expected year but still posted a $54.7 million operating loss, due, in part, to “an impairment charge of $15.2 million related to the Steeplegate Mall for the three months ended December 31, 2013 as compared to December 31, 2012,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

According to year-end 2013 financial statements posted in March, the company reported that 75.5 percent of the space at the mall – 480,000 square feet – was currently leased.

The company currently owes $47.9 million on the mortgage for Steeplegate, with a “balloon payment at maturity” of $46.9 million coming due in August.

In financial filings, the company said it was “unable to advance prospective leases” at Steeplegate in 2013.

“(The) Company does not anticipate funding additional capital for (Steeplegate)," it stated. "Without funding additional capital to reduce the mortgage debt to a lower loan to value ratio the Company may not be able to refinance the loan.”

The company had, however, closed a new $510 million corporate credit facility and was acquiring other properties around the country, according to the report. The company reported more than $2 billion in assets and around $1.56 billion in liabilities.

The city of Concord, according to the Concord Monitor in January, also reached an agreement with the mall in its long-standing fight over assessments and taxes. The settlement resulted in the city paying back $1.6 million to the company. The city assessed the mall at $65 million in 2012; Rouse claimed the value was more like $37 million.

In recent years, while there have been stores that closed, others have opened or reopened. The Dress Barn recently reopened and across the street, a new Ocean State Job Lot opened too. The company has also tried new things. The Concord Farmers’ Market opened a second location in the parking lot near Applebee’s Restaurant last year. 

Wayne Hall, the president of the Concord Farmers' Market, said that the market signed a new contract with the mall for 2014, running from June 5, through Sept. 25. The market will run from 3 to 6 p.m. on Thursdays. The market at the Statehouse will start on May 10 this year, a month early, he said.