Hello
I went to the Houston Mall again. I was rehab shopping for my mother. No, not THAT kind of rehab; she is becoming less and less mobile with her disease.
Even at 3:30 PM the mall is dead. Evelyn's, the dress shop that was too stubborn to leave, is no more. A third of the mall is rented by the Houston Medical Center. This is not a bad idea if the $/sqft sales are high even for spending money on medical procedures. But HMC isn't the Mayo Clinic or Cook County Hospital in Chicago.
The northeast entrance is no more. Home Decor resides in it, the small stores along the way, and in two or more old stores possibly carved out of WT Grant's. I remember when my sis and I went to Grant's and bought a small globe. This was on a Sunday. Eckerd's is a billing center for HMC and the southeast corridor has Warner Robins Municipal Court and a probation office. A nail place and beauty supply replaced stores near where the old record store and Burton's shoes once thrived. I forgot there was a southeast wing to the mall. It has a few of HMC's storefront facilities.
Were I HMC and if no expansion were already planned for the hospital I'd buy the mall and revamp it. Then I would rent it out. Hospitals likely find themselves hurting to make a profit and though Houston Medical Center doesn't have indigents bleeding them dry it remains a neat idea.
Management needs to market the mall as an office center and fill the hallway with another row of offices. Perhaps they can bulldoze all but the east and west anchors and make a strip mall. Westgate did this but their mistake was remaining commercial in a deteriorating neighborhood.
I heard Jim Marshall this and that today on WDEN and WMAC. I am firing off a letter to Mac Collins' staffer to tell the campaign to hurry up and get some ads on the air yesterday. There is no reason for a last-minute full court press to be delayed. Collins needs to counter the liars lying about his lying and get the word out. The other GOP related groups do much better at putting out the facts on Marshall.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
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2 comments:
Dear Kat,
I have written a letter to the Macon Telegraph that was in Monday's View Points stating that my vote is going for Jim Marshall. At first, I was against his policies by labeling him as a liberal. But now, I am disgusted with both the Republicans and the Democrats. I do feel that Jim Marshall is as conservative as in so-called Republican that is located in Georgia. I feel that both parties have left me as a fiscal conservative, and my vote for Jim Marshall is based upon his support for the troops. There is something about Mac Collins that just does not set well with me. You know what they say about first impressions, and I see him as just another good ole boy.
I hope that this does not cause you to have ill will toward me, but I made my decision a couple of weeks ago. I am fed up with the moral majority hypocrites. I am disgusted with the Republican Party embracing the "gay agenda" to be the big tent party. The conservative Christians are being thrown to the wolves by both parties.
You are so right about the dying malls, and our politicians in Bibb County keep promoting more and more to be built on the outskirts of the county. This is leaving the core of Macon to turn into decay...Macon Mall etc... Have a good weekend!
BeeBee:
As for the comment on the central part of Macon not being promoted I think that having an incompetent city government is one reason thre is so much growth outside of the city limits. They and the rest of the leadership let it go down the drain. I would say this is the reason there are so many "grayfields" (empty shopping centers) in the middle of town.
This leads retailers to go where the people are and not where the thieves are. Home Depot, Wal-Mart, and OfficeMax emptied out of Westgate when the neighborhood around them went down the drain.
Even those just passing through didn't want any part of Westgate. The mall is seeing the same thing happen. Watch Macon Mall to join deadmalls.com if one or two anchors leave. I hear the occupancy rate is 40%. How that translates into good or bad numbers I'll leave to your accounting acumen.
One more thing; I wonder if Houston Mall is making much money off Houston Medical Center and the facilities it has placed there.
If you ask me I say that Terry Horton, councilman/owner of the mall, should sell to the hospital and let them rent out to a few retailers just to make money. They would do a better job with upkeep of the mall.
As for Marshall and Collins I think Collins needs to revamp his strategy. Granted he seems to have 'backer' in his mouth and talks with an impediment. But I trust a businessman over one who took 2K$ from Pelosi anyday.
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