A shopping mall in Waterford is set to be sold at auction Wednesday.
An auction for the Crystal Mall at 850 Hartford Turnpike went live on Monday, and bids will be accepted until 12:45 p.m. Bidding started at $4 million, with increments of $1 million.Â
The Crystal Malls spans 535,494 square feet and is 64% occupied, according to the listing. It sits on 82 acres and was built in 1984.
The listing agents are David Monahan and Cameron Pittman of JLL.Â
The mall features anchors JCPenney and Christmas Tree Shops, the latter which sublets a portion of a former Bed Bath & Beyond, which declared bankruptcy this year and is in the process of closing all of its stores.
The majority of the Crystal Mall was owned by Simon Property Group, but loan holders foreclosed on the property last year, with $81 million due on the commercial mortgage, according to CoStar News.
Seritage Growth Properties owns part of the property, including a former Macy’s store that is now empty and a 150,632-square-foot space that previously housed Sears.
The Crystal Mall has more than 60 stores, a food court and three restaurants: Buffalo Wild Wings, Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse. It’s near the U.S Coast Guard Academy and several other colleges and tourist attractions.
According to CoStar News, the mall’s occupancy has been declining since 2018, and the mall has lost $135 million in value over the past 10 years.Â
The town has appraised the mall at about $60 million.
The auction comes at a time of turnover in the mall industry, as customers increasingly eschew large brick-and-mortar retail stores in favor of online shopping. Recently, the Brass Mill Center mall in Waterbury sold to Kohan Realty Group for $18.9 million.
