NORFOLK, Va. - During a Norfolk City Council meeting on Tuesday, there was an update on the status of Military Circle Mall from the Norfolk Economic Development Authority.
Business owners in and near the mall learned a few weeks ago that the mall will be torn down at the beginning of next year and businesses need to be out by the end of December.
During the city council meeting, no updates on proposals for the mall's redevelopment were discussed. They did discuss the mall's current state.
According to Sean Washington, the Assistant Director of Development, Military Circle Mall currently has 95 tenants with 90 of them on short-term leases.
He says income is not coming into the mall with $221,000 delinquent tenants in there.
In regards to the mall's maintenance, a new roof is required, and that costs $505 million. They have two HVAC units, but one is not operating, costing $2.2 million.
In order to get the mall to where it needs to be, Washington said it would cost $8 million. He says if the City of Norfolk put in the $8 million, then the city would be $1.1 million in deficit.
They say demolition is the fourth option and it would cost $1.7 million to do so.
During the meeting, the mall's tenants provided feedback and they said they want more time to move to get through the holiday season.
The tenants said that they want help to promote that the mall is still open because, since the announcement of demolition, businesses have lost foot traffic.
They also want to know what relocation assistance looks like for them. They say that they would like location assistance or a list of available properties in the city. The tenants said they want an early release of the security deposit, an extension of the closure date and tenant vacancy date. They also said they would like capital for having to close store and for loss of sales.
During the meeting, the Economic Development Authority recommended that the mall should stay open until January 31. They said that they will continue to analyze other assistance options.
