Most of the Oak Ridge City Center, also known as the Oak Ridge Mall, has been empty for years, and now the roughly 60-acre shopping center is for sale for $10.5 million.
The mostly empty Oak Ridge City Center could have new owners within about six months, a local economic development leader said Monday.
Also known as the Oak Ridge Mall, the roughly 60-acre City Center is for sale for $10.5 million, said Parker Hardy, president and chief executive officer of the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.
Sears is closing its store at the mall, meaning only two stores remain: Belk and JCPenney.
Hardy gave an update on the mall sale during an Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board meeting Monday.
He said the 500,000-square-foot mall will likely be on the market for about eight weeks, followed by a four-week due diligence period and a four-week closing period.
City leaders support a plan to market the property as one large redevelopment site, rather than as a big lot that could be “sliced and diced” into smaller parcels that could then be sold separately.
Hardy said there are many distressed properties around the country, but few like the Oak Ridge Mall that have two anchor stores and are adjacent to a movie theater and a Walmart.
Local economic development leaders said enclosed malls have fallen out of favor—the last one in the United States was built in 2006, Hardy said—and the enclosed space between the two anchor stores at the Oak Ridge Mall could eventually be torn down.
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