I think there is a “rush to judgement” atmosphere prevailing here. The stores in the Mall couldn’t make it for a couple reasons. Too much rent and not enough foot traffic. The late Chuck Shill of the Maid-Rite told me they approached him to open a restaurant in the Mall. He didn’t need to think long he said; the rent was $21.00 per square foot plus 10% of the gross. That’s impossible.
They sold that Mall for $1.5 million… less than some residential properties are asking for their residences. There is a reason that happened… it’s a desperate grasp to create a legacy, one that has already been written on the side of a countless beer trucks. Everything else was created in a delusional alcoholic haze.
Peter Children
Now that the Tollbridge has been sold through the bankruptcy proceedings for $1,500,000, the per square foot rent should be in the $7.50 per square foot range.
Bottom line: if you have a retail business you can develope $300,000 per year in gross revenue you could make a decent living. These are average and generic numbers used for a basic pro-forma but anybody wanting to get into the retail business should at least get in touch with the new mall owners and check it out.
Forget the tax scandal, the ice skating ruse, and fill the mall with retail shops which is what it was meant for.
Maybe theaters could be re-ingaged in the mall at that rent structuce. I’ll bet Cinema-West’s rent is more than that.
Please tell me about the tax scandal. I never heard of it.
He is right about the booze – now we have another brewery being built. Mason City downtown is designed to keep the public drunk and stupid.
I agree, I wish I was able to start a protest, I would do it in a heart beat
This time I agree with Peter Children. If they want a hockey rink take the donations and build a new one at the N.I. Events Center. We do not need a hotel and the idea to have retail in it won’t work. The traffic is out west. It is just a pipe dream put on by the Chamber of Commerce to feather their own nest at the expense of the taxpayer. Ban beer at City Hall and this kind of stuff won’t happen.
I agree 100% about building at the former fair grounds. Maybe now with two new supervisors it,might happen