page_title: Regency Mall (Augusta, Georgia)
section_title: Decline (1993–1999)
hierarchical_section_title: Regency Mall (Augusta, Georgia) / History / Decline (1993–1999)
caption_attribution_description: English: Old Belks building at Regency Mall, Augusta, Georgia, USA. Opened as a co-anchor at Regency Mall in 1979 and empty since 1997
context_page_description: Regency Mall was a major regional mall in South Augusta, Georgia. Located at 1700 Gordon Highway, Regency Mall was open from 1978 to 2002. It was anchored by J.B. White, Belk, Montgomery Ward and Cullum's, and also featured a three-screen movie General Cinema theatre. Developed by Edward J. DeBartolo and Associates, Regency Mall was Augusta's first shopping mall, opening one week before Augusta Mall.
  Never updated during its lifespan, Regency Mall failed due to crime and security problems, a poor location and a market too small to support two shopping malls. Its anchor stores began to pull out during the 1990s, some of them relocating to the more successful Augusta Mall. Regency's last remaining anchor, Montgomery Ward, closed when the chain folded in 2001.
context_section_description: The first anchor store to close at Regency Mall was Upton's, which occupied the space originally built for Cullum's; its Regency Mall store closed in April 1993.  Seven other stores in the mall closed by the end of that year.  Some merchants who were leaving the mall said that the mall wasn't generating enough traffic to justify remaining at the mall.  One said she didn't see the mall "having any kind of future" the way it was.  Another merchant claimed that the mall's management "doesn't seem to want to work with its tenants."  Though some new businesses moved in, some of these were small businesses instead of franchised outlets; for example, a comic book store moved into a vacant store on the second level.  However, the mall was steadily becoming deserted.
  DeBartolo Family Associates transferred the mall to mortgage holder Equitable Real Estate in 1995; as part of the deal, a $12.5 million debt owed by DeBartolo was forgiven.  Equitable sold the mall in 1997 to Regency Mall, LLC, formed by Raleigh developers Haywood Whichard and Paul Woo, who specialized in buying and reselling distressed mall properties.  Whichard and Woo bought the mall, valued at $33.5 million in 1991 tax records, for less for $4.15 million.  In hopes of attracting business, lease rates were set as low as $3.50 per square foot, compared to the $9–$18 per square foot charged elsewhere in the surrounding area.  Though a few businesses moved to the mall, they weren't enough to turn business around.  The mall continued to lose tenants. Whichard and Woo said that the mall needed to be renovated to attract new tenants, but Woo said that the two weren't willing to risk the $15 to $30 million such renovations would require.
  Other tenants fell as the years passed.  Belk closed its Outlet Center at Regency Mall in August 1996.  General Cinema closed its three-screen theatre at Regency Mall that same year.  Two years later, JB White closed its Regency Mall store and opened a new store at Augusta Mall, leaving Montgomery Ward as the only anchor left at the mall.  The management of that store boarded up its mall entrances to save on heating and cooling costs. The mall's escalators were shut off to save money, and management scaled back the hours of operation.  Even with these and other economic measures, the mall lost money each day it was open.  Occupancy was, at most, 35 percent.
  Local government officials had eyed Regency Mall for years as a possible location for city and county operations.  In 1996, the Augusta Chronicle reported that Augusta Mayor Larry Sconyers and other commissioners conducted a behind-the-scenes effort to buy the mall and relocate government offices there.  Though this plan didn't carry through, another proposal was made two years later to consolidate all of Augusta-Richmond County's government operations there, and to convert the Belk building into a court facility.  Though some in Augusta hailed the plan as an opportunity to revitalize the flagging South Augusta area, critics said that the plan would have contradicted Augusta's efforts to revitalize the downtown and riverfront areas.  The Augusta Chronicle criticized the $90 million proposal as "far-out" and "off-the-wall."  In the end, these plans never went forward.
  There appeared to be new life for Regency Mall at the start of 1999, with reports of an impending sale to a developer who planned to convert it into an outlet mall. One report announced prematurely that the mall had been sold to AMC Development, that upscale retailers such as FAO Schwartz and Nike would relocate to the mall, and that the mall would be converted into an entertainment center with amusement park rides, a hotel, an ice rink, specialty shops and office space.  However, though AMC and the Whichard-Woo partnership were reportedly close to a deal, the sale never went through.  Whichard and Woo then tried to sell the property at auction, but could draw no bids higher than $2.3 million.  Whichard finally bought out Woo's share for $2.7 million in an April 1999 foreclosure auction, but Woo continued to manage the pr
caption: The Belk building, seen from the lower level. The dark smoked mirrorglass, the white-painted bricks and the building's exterior configuration are classic 1970s design cues.
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