Danville's Village Mall up for auction in 3 parts

Apr. 9—DANVILLE — After another wall was put up in the Village Mall to section it off and keep people out of certain areas, and two months after more tenants were being forced out and city officials said mall ownership isn't willing to work with the city to revitalize the mall, the mall is up for auction in three parts.

According to an online Ten-X auction website, with Ten-X as the asset manager and Riser Retail Group as the broker, for the three parcels, including the grocery-anchored retail center at 2917 N. Vermilion St. in Danville with a starting bid of $1.75 million, the auction starts in 33 days, on May 13 and runs through May 15.

The listing states "the building is part of the Village Mall shopping center, a critical retail center of roughly 300,000 square feet. This asset is part of a group of three offerings at the center that are coming to the Ten-X platform for auction. This part of the offering includes 126,513 square feet spread across four fully occupied units. Tenants at this location include the Country Market, Pet Supplies Plus, Ross Stores, and Dunham's Sports. All four serve as crucial anchor tenants for the mall, with the Country Market, a full-service grocery store, driving in daily-needs traffic."

The second and third parcels having starting bids of $1.

For the second parcel at 2917 N. Vermilion St., the Danville Village Mall, "is a value-add, 281,606-SF interior corridor shopping mall with a robust lease-up upside. Premier location along Vermilion Street offers access and visibility to roughly 20,000 vehicles per day, creating a solid built-in shopper base. Access to a strong demographic portfolio, including an affluent 5-mile population of 37,000 people who spend over $344 million per year. Daily needs retailers help to drive traffic to the vicinity, including big-box stores like Walmart Supercenter, Lowe's, Menards and Planet Fitness. Part of a group of three assets coming to the Ten-X platform, including the interior corridor Village Mall and a developable mall outparcel.

"The mall is currently 37.42% occupied by a healthy roster of service-based tenants and retailers, presenting investors with in-place cash flow to bolster the property's upside potential through the lease-up of the remaining space at premium market levels. The mall has several well-known national retailers, including Joann Fabrics, Bath & Body Works, and Hibbett Sporting Goods.

"Do not miss the opportunity to acquire a 75-unit mall bolstered by in-place cash flow with immense value-add upside through the lease-up of the remaining vacancies. Property tours are available by appointment only. Please contact the broker to schedule," the listing continues.

The out parcel starting bid is $1, with the listing stating, "2811 N. Vermilion St. offers investors the opportunity to acquire a highly developable 1.24-acre retail mall outparcel in Danville, Ill. Premier location along Vermilion Street offers access and visibility to roughly 20,000 vehicles per day, creating a robust built-in shopper base. Opportunity to acquire a retail outparcel with built-in retail synergies, including shadow-anchor big-box stores and a neighboring Buffalo Wild Wings."

The listing is by Autumn Psaros with Caton Commercial Real Estate Group in Naperville,

Most recently, The JumpOff! party play space in the former Carson's wing of the Village Mall was forced to close prior to its lease being up.

Claire's also was forced to close in the mall last month.

Burlington had already announced its closure in February.

Danville Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. has said the mall owners, T Danville/Tabani Group, are incorporated in Texas but not from the states.

He said the city has a problem when owners adversely affect citizens and businesses.

Jodi's Dance Unlimited will reportedly be in the mall until the end of June and then it will be moving out. A wall was put inside the mall near the dance studio which meant no more access to the restrooms or rest of the mall for the studio.

Danville Area Community College also had been working with the Village Mall on its planned barbering school.

Repeated messages to mall officials have gone unanswered.

Paige Schlesser, with Mid-America Asset Management Group that had been a retail leasing company for the mall, said Tuesday that she had no information on the auction.