Demolition of the unsalvageable portion of Turtle Creek Mall will begin March 15, according to a letter received via email at 4:15 p.m. Friday by the City of Jonesboro.
The letter from Brookfield Properties, of Chicago, which owns Turtle Creek Mall, came in response to a request for action letter from Mayor Harold Copenhaver dated Jan. 15. It stated that Brookfield has “elected to move forward at this time with razing and removal of the portion of the property identified as the ‘Red Zone’ … ”
This “Red Zone” was deemed by Brookfield engineers to be unsalvageable from the March 28 tornado and exists roughly from the eastern edge of the former Victoria’s Secret to the Dillard’s location that has reopened.
Copenhaver was relieved to see Brookfield’s intentions and has been in conversation with mall management about reopening of the western half.
“The most important part is step one, which is removing the immediate danger presented by the hardest hit area that has been sitting, blighted, for almost a year,” Copenhaver said. “This letter is another encouraging sign that this area of commerce will be servicing the residents again.”
Copenhaver and senior staff toured the damage with Mall manager Rick Jackson in the new mayor’s first week in office in January, which led to a letter requesting Brookfield’s intentions.
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It’s about time. It’s a shame the Brookfield had to be forced to clean up the property.
It’s pathetic that the owner of the mall had to be forced to clean it up but I’m not surprised because they got the insurance money/millions from it and was going to say the hell with it and leave it abandoned for someone else to deal with.