Tallahassee officials are in preliminary discussions to finally renovate an ailing mall on the city’s north side. The Community Redevelopment Agency and developers met Thursday to begin discussing details of Blackwater Resources’ plans for the Tallahassee Mall.
With only 20 percent of the mall’s space actually occupied by working businesses, the mall’s new owners are hoping to demolish the most barren parts of the mall, replacing it with modern, multiuse buildings. The Tallahassee Mall, which really began deteriorating during the recession, went up for sale in 2009 and is being purchased by an Alabama-based development company Blackwater Resources.
Tallahassee Growth Management Administrator Steve Palmer says the city has begun the process of issuing a demolition permit but there many details remain to be worked out before bulldozers go to work.
“When the developer comes up with a concept plan for the redevelopment, or some portion thereof, we’ll have follow-up meetings just like this one where everyone is at the table to discuss how to go about getting it built,” Palmer points out.
The preliminary plans for the mall’s redevelopment include residential and retail space and an amphitheater, but both the developers and city officials say the exact plans could change.
This is the second mall Blackwater Resources has agreed to revamp in Florida. Their first project was a 10-acre renovation of an outdoor mall in Destin called Shoreline Village.