JCPenney at the Oak Ridge Mall will stay open as the company closes 33 stores across the United States.
The JCPenney in Oak Ridge will stay open as the retailer closes 33 underperforming stores across the United States.
The list of closures announced Wednesday includes only one Tennessee store, the JCPenney at Northgate Mall in Chattanooga.
The JCPenney in Oak Ridge is at the city’s mostly empty mall, where a $85 million redevelopment has been proposed. Crosland Southeast, the North Carolina company that has had a purchase contract on the mall since January 2013, has said the renovated 59-acre site could open in  2016 and include a mix of retail and office space, a hotel, and up to 50 multi-family residential units, as well as a few restaurants. Belk and JCPenney are expected to stay.
The Oak Ridge City Council and Anderson County  Commission have both approved a $13 million tax financing agreement for the long-awaited mall redevelopment.
JCPenney said it is closing the 33 stores and laying off 2,000 employees as part of a sweeping turnaround.
See the list of store closures here:Â JCPenney Store Closures January 2014.
Jeff Ryman says
Any idea when the mall sale will close?
johnhuotari says
Jeff,
In December, Tim Sittema of Crosland Southeast said the company could close on the purchase in the third quarter of 2014, and construction could last about 18 months.
Here’s a link to that story: http://oakridgetoday.com/2013/11/18/anderson-commission-unanimously-approves-oak-ridge-mall-tif-project-goes-state/
Jeff Ryman says
Thanks John,
I had followed your link to an earlier story that said demolition could begin in early 2014. Having lived through the “mall wars,” the rise and fall of the present mall location, and witnessing from afar the subsequent failed attempts (so far) to (re)build something else, I guess I remain cynical about the next attempt. I hope I am wrong.
johnhuotari says
Jeff,
I don’t think you’re alone in that regard. But city officials, and those who have seen Crosland’s developments elsewhere, have repeatedly said that if anyone in the Southeast call pull off this redevelopment, it’s Crosland Southeast.
As I understand it, the remaining major step, assuming the tax increment financing is approved by the state, is the marketing of the redevelopment and signing up retailers.