Mount Berry Mall-Cedar Herald Index

Mount Berry Mall, formerly known as Mount Berry Square, is a one-level enclosed shopping mall located in Rome, Georgia. It is the only enclosed mall in the city. Opened in 1991, the mall features Belk and Dunham's Sports as its anchor stores. The mall is owned and managed by Hull Property Group.

1988-1993: Planning and early years

Plans for Mount Berry Square date back to March 23, 1988 while construction on the site and the clearing of timber began in the summer of 1989. Mount Berry Square was a joint venture development between Crown American and Homart Development Company and would open on February 13, 1991 with anchor tenants JCPenney, Sears, Belk-Rhodes, and Hess's, all four of which replaced existing stores throughout Rome. The architect for the mall was Crawford McWilliams Hatcher Architects, Inc. Both JCPenney and Belk-Rhodes featured new store designs that placed a greater emphasis on fashion than the previous stores. The Hess's store closed in 1993, with Proffitt's replacing it. It is now occupied by Dunham's Sports, which opened in late 2013.

Mount Berry Mall

2003-2010: Later years and start of decline

On November 22, 2003, the merger between Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust and Crown American was completed, which ended in Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust acquiring all 26 shopping malls owned at the time by Crown American, which included Mount Berry Square. Prior to this, the property had been identified by Crown American as one of 6 "non-core" properties the company held that Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust had planned to sell off after the merger was completed, and in 2003, the occupancy rate for the mall was 73.3%, while the average for a Crown American property at this time was 93.0%. and on September 29, 2004, Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust completed the sale of the mall to The Lightstone Groups Prime Retail division along with 4 other shopping malls previously identified as "non-core" properties by Crown American. In October 2005, it was announced that the Proffitt's store at the mall would become a second Belk store after Belk purchased 47 Proffitt's and McRae's stores. This would later close and become Dunham's Sports. In June 2010, it was announced that Mount Berry Square was going into foreclosure on July 6, 2010, after The Lightstone Group defaulted on two loans for $73.9 million dollars and another for $7 million dollars. Also involved in the default were three of the four properties purchased from Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust by The Lightstone Group with Mount Berry Square. During this time, the mall and the three other properties foreclosed on would be managed by Jones Lang LaSalle as a receiver. On August 23, 2010 Urban Retail Properties began managing the mall and two other properties from The Lightstone Group's portfolio.

Mount Berry Mall

2012-present: Later decline

In October 2012, Augusta-based Hull Property Group announced they were acquiring the mall In January 2016, Sears announced it would close its doors on March 26, 2016. In 2020, Hull Property Group began renovations on the mall, installing new flooring and lighting along with improvements to the public restrooms and HVAC. During this time, they would also rename the mall Mount Berry Mall. In June 2020, it was announced that JCPenney would close around October 2020 as part of a plan to close 154 stores nationwide. After JCPenney closed, Dunham's Sports and Belk became the only remaining anchor tenants.

Mount Berry Mall