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After walking Wake Forest yesterday, I venture over to Hanes Mall to see how it's looking lately.. Didn't get to stay to long because Fire alarms were going off and had to exit.. but I did pretty much have time to walk just about the whole mall and noticed more vacant store fronts then the last time the Belks looked very nice thou, of Course, that one always looks good and organized! I feel like that Belk could definitely survive by itself, if something different become of the mall itself. Like if it completely changed over to a business center or something. A lot of the other stores inside the mall were lack luster appearing. Old Navy seemed hopping thou. I wonder what set off the fire alarms. Everytime I go to Hanes Mall I squint my eyes and just try to see and invision it as it was when I was growing up.. but each time I have to squint harder and harder ;(
After walking Wake Forest yesterday, I venture over to Hanes Mall to see how it's looking lately.. Didn't get to stay to long because Fire alarms were going off and had to exit.. but I did pretty much have time to walk just about the whole mall and noticed more vacant store fronts then the last time the Belks looked very nice thou, of Course, that one always looks good and organized! I feel like that Belk could definitely survive by itself, if something different become of the mall itself. Like if it completely changed over to a business center or something. A lot of the other stores inside the mall were lack luster appearing. Old Navy seemed hopping thou. I wonder what set off the fire alarms. Everytime I go to Hanes Mall I squint my eyes and just try to see and invision it as it was when I was growing up.. but each time I have to squint harder and harder ;(
Hanes Mall needs some imagination put into it for what the next steps are. As a mall, it's going downhill at a moderate pace... but clearly trending down.
The fact that they have "work center" developments with a lot of investment on each end can serve to reduce potential options... unless you pretty much eliminate what's left of the "mall" and then work on more a town center type development (basically an outdoor mall with mixed-use). The two work center buildings can serve a little as an anchor to bring people in. Maybe incorporate a food-hall, some apartments and then some retail scattered about to make it more of a walkable community. Looking at a satellite view on a map, eliminating most of the current "mall" would free up a TON of space that could be redeveloped.
Malls are a bit of a thing of the past.... but I don't think simply turning it into just more shopping is the answer either considering there are a number of other options in the immediate area. Peninsula Town Center in Hampton, VA is one I've always thought is a good blueprint for a mall redevelopment. The Hanes Mall footprint is also considerably larger and thus has more space to work with, even with the work-centers that are currently on site.
Good ideas @HRVT! Maybe they could do it in phases. Like phase one, tear down the " old" portion of the mall... If thats even possible to have one side up and going while another is demolished. Anyway all this is hypothetical... Who knows..I could also see the hospital buying it out of it ever goes up for sale..
I wonder if at least some of it having the outlet mall concept similar to Concord Mills would work.
There really aren't good outlet mall options in the Triad. I know Mebane maybe could squeeze by as an option, but it's almost in the Triangle. Even little Smithfield, NC way east of Raleigh has that concept along I-95. But the closest options to Hanes and the immediate Triad are either in Mebane, Blowing Rock, or Concord and none of those options are close or particularly convenient for most of the Triad to access.
I know people say malls are going out of favor, and that's a shame, given the NC climate isn't as outdoorsy friendly as somewhere like Southern California, so I think that's a serious limitation of these newer "lifestyle centers" (Friendly Center is one of the few in the Triad) that people are underestimating.
Belk is historically popular in the Carolinas as it is based in Charlotte. They have a good selection of designer labels and in house brands. They carry southern labels such as Southern Tide and Vineyard Vines. But sorry the Macy's shut down, although some of their NC stores were better managed when they were Hecht's. Hopefully Hanes Mall will revitalize as needed.
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the Belks looked very nice thou, of Course, that one always looks good and organized! I feel like that Belk could definitely survive by itself, if something different become of the mall itself. Like if it completely changed over to a business center or something. A lot of the other stores inside the mall were lack luster appearing. Old Navy seemed hopping thou. I wonder what set off the fire alarms. Everytime I go to Hanes Mall I squint my eyes and just try to see and invision it as it was when I was growing up.. but each time I have to squint harder and harder ;(
