CHARLOTTE — A receiver has been appointed for Northlake Mall off W.T. Harris Boulevard after outstanding debt payments allegedly failed to be made and a mortgage associated with the property went into default. It could signal a foreclosure proceeding is to come.
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A lawsuit filed in Mecklenburg County last month by Wilmington Trust — serving as trustee of a commercial mortgage-backed securities trust involving four U.S. malls, including Northlake — alleges the borrower hasn’t kept up with debt payments on the properties. The loan associated with the properties went into default in late 2019.
The property is one of four malls, all of which are owned by entities affiliated with Starwood Capital Group, mentioned in the suit and packaged in the same CMBS portfolio.
Several tenants have departed the nearly 1.1 million-square-foot Northlake Mall in recent years, including Dick’s Sporting Goods, whose lease expired in January. The store was reported as permanently closed earlier this year, with a new location opening in Concord around the same time of its closure.
The Charlotte Business Journal counted more than a dozen empty storefronts at Northlake in late February.
The news of a potential foreclosure saddens resident Chelsea Delepp.
“Usually, you know, me and my friends we live around here this is the main mall that we go to” she said. “We don’t travel really far especially with the gas, so just thinking about it being closed down that’s like drastic for us.”
Malls have been in trouble, even before the pandemic, as more people switch to online shopping.
Charlotte city council member Malcolm Graham told Channel 9 he’s worried about what a potential foreclosure could to do the north Charlotte community.
“Very concerning about the prospect of the mall closing, so hopefully they can get their business arrangements satisfied,” Graham said. “Certainly Northlake Mall is an anchor of retail and economic opportunities for shopping for those in the north side the city.”
Graham says he’s optimistic Northlake won’t end up like Eastland Mall in east Charlotte, which closed and then sat vacant for years.
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