City of College Station puts taxpayers on hook for mall redevelopment

27,316 Views | 151 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by woodiewood1
TyHolden
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Texasclipper said:

wareagle044 said:

tb9665 said:

I think that the whole mall needs to be sold to either Brookfield Properties (Woodlands Mall/Baybrook Mall) or Simon Property Group (Galleria Houston). Let them redevelop it.


Great potential there. Though I've heard it brings in more tax revenue for the city than Northgate as it sits now
Why would either of these companies want the Post Oak Mall?
this - most malls are still recovering from Covid and we're looking at a possible recession (some would argue we're already in it). i wouldn't touch it.
Flatlander
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Quote:

When the sale closes in 30 days, the city will pay $7.3 million for a property that sold only 7 months ago for $3.5 million dollars.


Where is this information coming from? Looking on brazoscad, it shows 1990 was the last time that property changed hands. (I am looking at property ID 38017). The JCPenny's property shows a deed change for last year, but not the Macy's.
Cartographer
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I have the same question.

Did not get clarity.
officerfred
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The sale for the $3.5 million that happened January 2022 is on file at the county clerk's office. Watch the video and see how a citizen points that out at the end of the meeting.
cslifer
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Watch the presentation then run the numbers yourself, you may come to a very different conclusion….
BaitShack
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I watched the video and it's interesting how they referred to it as the premier property or the Gateway to College Station. What am I missing?
ukbb2003
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tb9665 said:

I think that the whole mall needs to be sold to either Brookfield Properties (Woodlands Mall/Baybrook Mall) or Simon Property Group (Galleria Houston). Let them redevelop it.


My wife and I were at The Woodlands mall last week. Soooo much better, that mall actually has good stores that are high end and relevant.
Cartographer
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After watching that meeting I realize they see some sort of full redevelopment of that area. It will never happen. This will 100% be the boondoggle everyone is anticipating.

For this to work they are going to have to get 10 years of development done and multiple subsequent acquisitions.

This is just more garbage. In 10 years when nothing has changed they will sell at a loss, with further degradation of the property.
Knowyourbusiness69
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Honestly it's probably for the best. We could end up with some undesirable businesses in there instead like the Old Sock or the bars from Northgate. We need something family oriented to paint College Station in a good light, after all appearances are everything when it comes to tourism.
TyHolden
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Knowyourbusiness69 said:

Honestly it's probably for the best. We could end up with some undesirable businesses in there instead like the Old Sock or the bars from Northgate. We need something family oriented to paint College Station in a good light, after all appearances are everything when it comes to tourism.

Then why are you posting with a sock???
Knowyourbusiness69
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Some of us mind our privacy Mr. Holden. We don't all want everyone to know we are a Profesional Goat Roper or whatever.

Just because I keep little information on my account doesn't mean I don't care about this great city and how my tax dollars are spent. I have faith in our City Administration's ability to continue their work in beautifying and improving our city.
TyHolden
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Knowyourbusiness69 said:

Some of us mind our privacy Mr. Holden. We don't all want everyone to know we are a Profesional Goat Roper or whatever.

Just because I keep little information on my account doesn't mean I don't care about this great city and how my tax dollars are spent. I have faith in our City Administration's ability to continue their work in beautifying and improving our city.
I hope you're not googling my name because that's exactly what I don't want! I've been here for 20+ years and people keep outing me!

And leave my goats out of this! They like being roped!
TyHolden
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Knowyourbusiness69 said:

Some of us mind our privacy Mr. Holden. We don't all want everyone to know we are a Profesional Goat Roper or whatever.

Just because I keep little information on my account doesn't mean I don't care about this great city and how my tax dollars are spent. I have faith in our City Administration's ability to continue their work in beautifying and improving our city.
And we all care about this community. That's why we're discussing the city losing millions on previous real estate deals. If you have information that is not publicly available or has not been presented here correctly, I'd love to share it with my 10k followers on twitter that think this was a bad decision. At the end of the day, all we want is the truth. Americans hate being duped more than anything.
PS3D
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Flatlander said:


Quote:

When the sale closes in 30 days, the city will pay $7.3 million for a property that sold only 7 months ago for $3.5 million dollars.


Where is this information coming from? Looking on brazoscad, it shows 1990 was the last time that property changed hands. (I am looking at property ID 38017). The JCPenny's property shows a deed change for last year, but not the Macy's.
It takes a while for Brazos CAD to update deeds from the county. Look up "1458723" in the county clerk website to see when it changed hands from Macy's.

Is Not a Turtle said:

After watching that meeting I realize they see some sort of full redevelopment of that area. It will never happen. This will 100% be the boondoggle everyone is anticipating.

For this to work they are going to have to get 10 years of development done and multiple subsequent acquisitions.

This is just more garbage. In 10 years when nothing has changed they will sell at a loss, with further degradation of the property.


If the mall was completely redeveloped, taking out everything but the Dillard's building(s) and JCPenney, but then the city holding onto Macy's would be irrelevant as it would probably be wrecked to be reconfigured.

But JCPenney is running on fumes as a company, the area around the mall isn't getting any better, and the overall economic outlook is bleak. Assuming all things being equal, if the mall could took advantage of Century Square's problems (high rents, parking) and coaxed in those tenants along with other features like sit-down restaurants (Casa Ole is a bit long in the tooth), then the mall could see an uptick in business. But the city of College Station would have very little to do with that either way.
befitter
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officerfred said:

The sale for the $3.5 million that happened January 2022 is on file at the county clerk's office. Watch the video and see how a citizen points that out at the end of the meeting.
And that was the owner of the bowling ally right. next door...that considered buying the property and was turned away by city staff.
MyNameIsJeff
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[Feel free to give your opinion but we have made it clear that we are not going to allow insulting posts or name calling on this board no matter if if it is an individual or a group. -Staff]
Ragnar Danneskjoldd
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college station has had a liberal city council as long as I can remember, dont know why. You should rise up and name Jess Fields dictator of the city.
duffelpud
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There are a couple of houses on my street up for sale. I wonder if the wizards of genius at the city would consider purchasing those in order to keep out 'undesirable tenants'?
"What's this button do?"
TyHolden
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This is the way

unmade bed
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Elections have consequences. Local elections more so than any other, but hardly anyone cares
MyNameIsJeff
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TyHolden
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MyNameIsJeff said:

unmade bed said:

Elections have consequences. Local elections more so than any other, but hardly anyone cares
I've lived here 12 years and have never voted at the local level. That will be changing after 1. Working with City Council last year on a project and 2. Reading this forum regularly.
Good to hear. Get the wurd out.
Stupe
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S
It always cracks me up when someone that doesn't vote complains about the results of elections.
woodiewood1
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phillytex24 said:

officerfred said:

Late Thursday at almost midnight, one of the largest speculative purchases of private property in College Station's history was unanimously approved by all members of College Station City council with zero debate.

College Station staff and some of the same city council members that voted to purchase the failed "Chimney Hill" property almost 15 years ago (only to later sell for what would be a multi-million dollar loss for the city) voted to purchase the Macys property at Post Oak Mall.

When the sale closes in 30 days, the city will pay $7.3 million for a property that sold only 7 months ago for $3.5 million dollars. City council seemed unphased when a concerned citizen spoke about the high price tag and government overreach. A local businessman spoke about their attempts to purchase the same property to only be later dissuaded by city staff who were obviously vying to purchase the property themselves.

The city was competing with several private purchasers that included 2 big box retailers, an entertainment center, and a storage center. The unseemly "negotiation" has the city over paying once again for property while also taking over $100,000 each year off the city tax roles.

When the City Manager was asked about the reason, he stated that the city wanted to purchase the property before someone else did and that there were no secure users identified for the project. This is a city with no experience in mall development and a history of losing money on real estate purchases.

Earlier in the evening the council voted unanimously to raise tax revenues and city utility fees over 10% across the board.

Funds to purchase the building will come from general funds. The same funds needed to hire police and fire to combat skyrocketing crime rates happening across parts of College Station.

The city will ask tax payers this November to approve borrowing over $90 million dollars for projects ranging from fire protection to pickleball courts.

Watch the meeting here at around 4:12 https://collegestationtx.civicclerk.com/Web/Player.aspx?id=1309&key=-1&mod=-1&mk=-1&nov=0


You are a great American for bringing this corruption to light. We must elect good men and women to replace this corruption. So sad.

We could have had an amazing retail business or church in that location and that would've been jobs for our community. Now we'll have an empty lot for years.
We know where some of the excess money in the General Fund comes from...excess charges for utilities. Instead of lowering rates or just sending it back to utility users, any excess is put in the GF for pet projects. All utility receipts should stay with utilities.

i would think with the AC square footage and parking, Amazon would be one entity that might have looked at it?
trouble
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MyNameIsJeff said:

unmade bed said:

Elections have consequences. Local elections more so than any other, but hardly anyone cares
I've lived here 12 years and have never voted at the local level. That will be changing after 1. Working with City Council last year on a project and 2. Reading this forum regularly.


Most decisions are made in local elections and primaries. Get out and vote.
Funky Winkerbean
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This type of stuff is the tip of the iceberg if you start paying close attention, so please start paying close attention.
It is so easy to be wrong—and to persist in being wrong—when the costs of being wrong are paid by others.
Thomas Sowell
PS3D
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Aggieland Proud said:

I already cannot vote for John Nichols because of his attitude about neighborhood integrity. He recently wanted to relocate the Pebble Creek Parkway entrance, the main entrance into the Pebble Creek neighborhood, so that it would connect to the new Corporate Parkway coming out of Midtown. That would potentially bring commercial 18 wheelers driving right through the middle of a large, established residential neighborhood. His comment was that road connectivity was more important than neighborhood integrity. I'm sorry but that man does not deserve to be mayor, much less be on council.
Corporate Parkway, as I recall, was originally named Pebble Creek Parkway as the road would extend and curl back around to Highway 40. I'm not sure how that equates to PBC having "commercia 18 wheelers driving right through the middle of a large, established residential neighborhood", that would hinge more on the fact if the road was extended south and what it connected to.

officerfred said:

Lets try this again.

PS3D Respectfully, the city purchase of the mall's largest retail anchor space along with over 7 acres is certainly "mall redevelopment".

The city stated that they wanted to protect the other retailers and businesses in the mall by this purchase. So clearly the city is stepping in here with taxpayer funds to redevelop the mall. I bet none of these folks would have paid 2X for a property that sold only 7 months ago with their own money.

I view this as a rescue of CBL Properties, the REIT that owns the mall. A mall operator that hasn't invested a nickel to make the mall better in decades. Now we know why. They knew that our city would use taxpayer funds and come rescue them. If the city must be involved, I would prefer the city use incentive funds to encourage private redevelopers that could fairly bid on the project. At least then they could place benchmarks that could protect us, the taxpayers.

Watch the meeting everyone and inform yourself. Make your own decision. But ask yourself why we don't have more details. Why is it that they can talk to insiders and do this kind of deal making without any public transparency? Ask yourself who stands the profit from the sale of this property? Who is at risk?

Do you believe the city "appraisal" of $6 to $11 million for a property that sold only 7 months ago for $3.5 million?

My view is that this purchase will serve as a ball and chain for City of College Station taxpayers for the next decade.

Last but not least. Here are other recent purchases of similar properties across the US as dozens of Macys closed locations have sold in the past year to private investors. Do a quick search for yourself.

Macys in Kentucky sold May 2022 $2 million
Macys in Tennessee sold Nov 2021 $4 million
Macys in Colorado sold June 2022 $3.5 million

We need to hear from the people who recently filed to help lead our city. Do not vote for someone unless they can explain their position on this issue. God Bless College Station.




There is no question that they overpaid for the property and their lack of communication with the pubic is troubling.

But CBL Properties has invested in the mall (the renovation in the late 2000s/early 2010s), and while they've mismanaged it--high rents and generally sub-par tenants, like replacing the vacant Luby's and a few others with a large discount clothing store...they're not going getting a bailout from CoCS, directly or indirectly, especially if CoCS causes the store to remain vacant (which it almost certainly will). They have never owned the Macy's property and would probably take anything they could get.
birdman
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Stupe said:

It always cracks me up when someone that doesn't vote complains about the results of elections.
As long as politician is using my tax money, I can complain.
taxpreparer
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birdman said:

Stupe said:

It always cracks me up when someone that doesn't vote complains about the results of elections.
As long as politician is using my tax money, I can complain.
You can, but if you don't vote, complaining is all you can do. Well, that or move.
***It's your money, not theIRS! (At least for a little while longer.)
Stupe
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birdman said:

Stupe said:

It always cracks me up when someone that doesn't vote complains about the results of elections.
As long as politician is using my tax money, I can complain.
People that don't vote do have the right to complain.

They just shouldn't be listened to by anyone that makes policy.
Or those of us that do vote.
doubledog
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MyNameIsJeff said:

unmade bed said:

Elections have consequences. Local elections more so than any other, but hardly anyone cares
I've lived here 12 years and have never voted at the local level. That will be changing after 1. Working with City Council last year on a project and 2. Reading this forum regularly.
Our local government likes to plan these elections on off years and the restrict where you can vote.

Just sayin' they do not make it easy to vote them out of office.
Rlw16
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Paying double the value on a mall building in a city with 50k students/young adults that order online rather than going to a mall sounds about right for the city.

Seriously go ask around when the last time students cared about that mall. But sure spend 7mil

Edit: I know it's not all about students but trust me, watch when they try to justify this they will bring up the student spending. Which I bet is very low versus online shopping. People don't go to that mall.
tb9665
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Conn's drop in sales provides peek into inflation's impact on consumer demand. (In Houston Chronicle)

Could this be another building for them to buy?
duffelpud
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Maybe the city is looking to move the parking lot carnival into that space. That should allow for better riot control and hide what they undoubtedly view as a "less than gateway event" from public view.
"What's this button do?"
techno-ag
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Rlw16 said:

Paying double the value on a mall building in a city with 50k students/young adults that order online rather than going to a mall sounds about right for the city.

Seriously go ask around when the last time students cared about that mall. But sure spend 7mil

Edit: I know it's not all about students but trust me, watch when they try to justify this they will bring up the student spending. Which I bet is very low versus online shopping. People don't go to that mall.
There does seem to be much hand wringing about "entryway" properties into the city. If you'll recall they prevented a developer from going forward with a new Walmart despite the property being zoned appropriately. They did not want people seeing a new Walmart Supercenter when driving into town.

And they lost the resulting lawsuit.
 
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