Hickory Hollow Piecing Together A Resurrection

In May, Hickory Hollow reopened as the “Global Mall at the Crossings.” The new owners say they’re trying to cater to the increasingly diverse community in Southeast Davidson County, which is also the fastest growing part of Nashville based on U.S. Census figures. Credit: Blake Farmer / WPLN

Owners of the former Hickory Hollow Mall in Antioch are trying to pull off a miraculous resurrection. And even with an additional shot in the arm from new city-funded projects, full-scale revival remains years off.

The latest development is a pair of hockey rinks, announced in June. All told, Metro Government is spending $32 million to also convert the old JC Penny into a library and community center. Dillard’s has already been converted into a satellite campus for Nashville State Community College.

“You name it, people are coming up with a really wide range of uses to plug back into these facilities,” says Ellen Dunham-Jones, a Georgia Tech professor who tracks hundreds of dead or dying malls around the country.  “I really would not say it has come down to a magic formula.”

Shopping malls around the country are dropping like flies. Roughly a third are having trouble keeping the lights on. And estimates from Green Street Advisors suggest 10 percent of indoor malls will go dark within a decade due to changing consumer tastes.

Lots of spaces in the Global Mall have “coming soon” signs up in the windows. The new owners say they expect interest accelerate as Metro Nashville begins construction of a library, community center and hockey complex on site. Credit: Blake Farmer / WPLN

According to Dunham-Jones’ database, roughly 40 have been scraped to the ground. Fifty or so are giving it another shot, and some have succeeded. She points to Nashville’s 100 Oaks where Vanderbilt Medical Center moved many of its offices. The key to success – she says – is making sure the former mall looks and feels substantially different.

Rebranding

“If people go and just sort of feel like it’s just sort of the same old place, or it feels kind of creepy or empty, that’s not going to work very well,” she says.

For the moment, the interior of the old Hickory Hollow Mall does feel the same – vacant and lifeless. In May, the 1.1 million square-foot building held a grand opening as the “Global Mall at the Crossings.” The idea is to cater to the increasingly diverse community in Southeastern Davidson County.

But for now, many of the storefronts have some version of a “coming soon” sign.

So far, the Global Mall remains largely dark, even on a summer afternoon. People who grew up coming to Hickory Hollow say it was the place to be in the 1980s and 1990s. Credit: Blake Farmer / WPLN

“It’s pretty empty,” says Jade Bradshaw, a young mother on her first visit back since spending her teenage years at Hickory Hollow. “I thought there would be more to it, honestly.”

As of late last year, the new landlords are a well-intentioned husband and wife from India who’ve never owned a mall.

Dr. Reita Aggarwal was just looking for space to open a small medical clinic. But when she talked to the corporate owners – CBL & Associates – they practically handed her the entire mall for a million dollars. To put this in perspective, it sold for more than $100 million 15 years ago.

“Everybody’s scared,” Aggarwal says. “Let’s put it this way – we are really simple people.”

Getting The Traffic Back

Dr. Aggarwal says the hockey rinks and library coming to the site in the next few years should be a shot in the arm.

“Really the community is building it,” she says. “When a community builds something, it is theirs.”

But so far, the community hasn’t come back. Foot-traffic has been so slow, tenants haven’t been charged rent.

Many of the Global Mall’s early tenants are originally from Egypt. Azza Eriby runs a $1 jewelry store and says so far she’s not getting the foot traffic she needs to survive. Credit: Blake Farmer / WPLN

Azza Eriby has a jewelry shop where beaded necklaces and plastic earrings all sell for the same price – $1. She says her business depends on volume.

“If there is rent paid, I will be closed after one week,” she says. “I can’t make it, just I can’t make it.”

Darren Morgan opened a seafood buffet, but so far it’s been too slow to justify keeping cooked shrimp and lobster on the buffet line.

“Can I make it?” he asks with a laugh. “They seem like they’ve got a good plan in place. It’s going to take some time.”