The Centre of Tallahassee, also known as the Old Tallahassee Mall, is slated to go up for sale August 22nd in an online foreclosure auction.
The property has an $84 million judgment against the defendants, which include two LLCs based in Alabama and Delaware. Also named as a defendant is local commercial renovation company OliverSperry.
According to court documents, more than $82 million is owed on the facility, which now houses mostly state offices, in addition to AMC, Barnes & Noble, and Belk, along with a handful of other retailers.
The property has had a tumultuous last decade. In 2014, the original owners sold the land to Tallahassee Retail Ventures which operates out of the offices of the re-developer, Blackwater Resources. In 2017, Blackwater President Alex Baker died, and the mall transformed into state office leases. Baker’s name is still on state registration documents for Tallahassee Retail Ventures, which is also a defendant in the foreclosure filing.
In a statement to WFSU News, OliverSperry writes, “After review of the document, OliverSperry Renovation is not impacted at all by this foreclosure. We were simply named on the Notice of Commencement for the renovation job that we did for one of the tenants in the mall. We’ve since finished the work and have been paid.”
Blackwater also sent a statement. In it, the company, which according to court documents shares an office with Tallahassee Retail Ventures, says it is just a management company and not the owner, therefore “it is not privy to the ownership’s dealings with its lender and as such, is it not in a position to provide any comment. Blackwater has enjoyed its time working in Tallahassee for the asset’s ownership and prides itself on securing three large state leases for the Centre of Tallahassee and looks forward to other opportunities in and around the area in the future.”
WFSU has also reached out to Beck Properties which currently manages the mall, and the Florida Department of Management Services. DMS oversees the properties owned by the state. The Florida Department of Children and Families, Florida Department of State, and Florida Department of Health have offices in the mall. A DMS official says the leases in the mall were done between it, and the individual agencies and that DMS was not involved in that process.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
