Rock Hill officials are nearing a decision on buying the blighted Edison Mall from an owner unable to rescue it from decline.
A contract has been drawn up and could go before the City Council by January, City Manager Carey Smith said. The city would demolish the rundown mall building and recruit private investors to redevelop the 3.5-acre site.
Local real estate agent Mary Hyatt and two partners bought the shopping center in 1999 with hopes of turning it into a draw for neighborhoods along Saluda Street.
But revitalization efforts never took off, and Hyatt said Wednesday that she and one remaining co-owner are facing the threat of foreclosure from the bank.
“I'd just like the city to go ahead and get it, fix it up and get it going,” Hyatt told The Herald. “It's three-and-a-half acres in the center of town. Something good could be put there.
“I am just really sad that I did not get it to be successful.”
The mall sits vacant. Gang graffiti covers much of a back wall. The asphalt parking lot is littered with potholes. A flea market operated until October but left when it became clear that Hyatt was close to selling the property.
Hyatt said she expects to lose money on the sale. She said city officials have offered less than $310,000, well under an appraisal done by the city that valued the property at $410,000.
The deal does not include a shuttered gas station next to the mall.
“It's just time for me to move on,” she said. Hyatt owns four smaller properties along Saluda Street, including one that houses a beauty salon.
Smith declined to talk about numbers, citing contractual negotiations. Money would likely come from a variety of sources, he said, including grants and the city's own general fund.
Long effort to revitalize area
City leaders have long believed the fate of Edison Mall is crucial to hopes for a revival along Saluda Street.
Neighbors want a grocery store to replace a Winn-Dixie that closed several years ago. Winn-Dixie and other stores left Saluda for newer retail centers in the 1980s and 1990s.
Around the same time, crime problems grew worse in nearby neighborhoods.
“If Saluda Street is going to be fixed up, it has to start with the mall,” said Melvin Poole, a business owner on the street and president of the Rock Hill chapter of the NAACP.
“That's the biggest eyesore down there. If they can find a big-box retailer willing to go in, it would be a draw for other businesses.”
Rock Hill has taken similar action to deal with other trouble spots in its urban core. Four years ago, responding to complaints from neighbors, the city's Economic Development Corp. bought the Red Coach Inn on East Main Street.
The two-story motel was demolished to make way for townhouses, but a developer hasn't started construction due to money problems.
Mayor Doug Echols said he would support buying the Edison Mall property if it helps improve the chances for private investment.
“The city's not going to get into the grocery store business,” Echols said in a recent interview. “But if we can get the site cleaned up, that would be good.”
In 2007, the city finished long-awaited streetscape upgrades aimed at turning Saluda Street into a southern gateway.
Crews buried some overhead utility lines, put in landscaping and installed sidewalks from downtown to Heckle Boulevard. But the $4.5 million infusion has shown few signs of delivering on its goals, with Edison Mall serving as the most visible example.“It just seems like a good time to force the issue, to see if there's a new and better direction for that property going forward,” Smith said Wednesday.
City officials grew impatient waiting for Hyatt to take action. After a series of changes in partners, she now co-owns the mall property with a Charlotte cardiologist.
The city's economic development chief offered a grim assessment at a City Council planning retreat in early 2008.
“It's not happening,” said Stephen Turner, director of the Rock Hill Economic Development Corp. “We're going to have to step in.”
Nearly two years later, Turner's prediction appears close to proving true.
Matt Garfield 803-329-4063
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