Roofing Contractor in Forest Acres, SC

FOREST ACRES — Crews have been tearing down the long-struggling Richland Mall in Forest Acres since March to make way for a city park, apartments and retail space.

Since work began on March 21, massive portions of the 930,000-square-foot structure have been torn down, with only a sliver of the three-story building remaining in the back of the lot, furthest away from the former mall entrances on Forest Drive and North Beltline.

Demolition of the mall structure is proceeding on schedule and is slated to be complete by the end of the year, Forest Acres Mayor Thomas Andrews said at a Dec. 10 meeting where the city approved a master plan for the future park on the site.

“We are happy with the progress of both the mall demolition and the planning for the city’s new park at the site,” Andrews said in a subsequent statement. “So far, everything is on schedule and that’s no small thing for a project of this scope and magnitude.”

After the remaining portions of the mall have been completely razed, workers from Demolition Environmental Company will crush and clear the concrete from the building to be recycled, and prepare the site for future construction.

That work is scheduled to be completed in March 2025, a year after excavators began tearing down the facade of the mall.

“It’s hard to believe we only started demolishing this mall in March,” Andrews said. “And by this time next year, we should expect to see new buildings under construction. It’s an exciting new chapter for our city.”

Crews have remained on track to level the mall despite a fire that broke out as crews tore down the former movie theater on the building’s roof in July, Hurricane Helene’s generational wind damage in Forest Acres in September and multiple arrests of trespassers on the site since demolition began.

Parts of the building which held all of the mall’s former anchor stores have been demolished as of Dec. 20, including the former Barnes and Noble space, which was the last store to leave the mall in Sept. 2023.

The mall’s three-level parking garage has been preserved for use in the site’s future redevelopment, which includes over $100 million in apartments, retail and a public park.

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The City of Forest Acres approved a master plan for the six-acre public park slated for a portion of the site at a Dec. 10 meeting. That plan calls for various green spaces and seating areas, a playground and spaces for a farmers market and live performances.

The park will be situated on the back of the site along Pen Branch creek, which formerly ran under the mall’s back parking lot.

The city has taken some of the first steps toward cleaning up the creek in order to make the flowing water a centerpiece of the park, Andrews said at the Dec. 10 meeting.

Augusta-based Southeastern Development bought the 32-acre mall property in an $18.6 million deal in early 2023 before selling the 6-acre park plot to the city for $3 million.

Southeastern has yet to finalize the design for the redevelopment. Preliminary proposals for the mixed-use development include more than 500 apartments, restaurants and retail space, a grocery store and a brewery. Current plans call for a portion of the parking garage to remain for use in the future redevelopment.

“We anticipate the development to create a new city center in Forest Acres,” Andrews said. “We are hopeful the park and the retail will have strong synergy that will be enjoyed not only by our residents, but increase tourism from the greater Midlands into Forest Acres.”

Southeastern has received $23 million in tax breaks from Richland County and Forest Acres, The Post and Courier previously reported. Property taxes on the site will be waived for 20 years, or until the tax value meets that amount.

Southeastern previously forecast the development could take close to a decade to be completed once demolition began, according to a press release on the city’s website.

The first phase featuring the brewery, grocery store, park and some apartments is expected to be finished first, in three to four years, with a second phase of more retail and apartments coming after, taking another four to five years.

The final development will reduce the 930,000-square-feet of retail space in the former mall to around 215,000 square feet in the new development. City officials expect traffic concerns to be muted by the reduction in square footage.

Richland Mall originally opened to the public as a open-air mall in the 1960s before being enclosed in the ‘80s with the three-story building now being demolished. Successful as an open-air shopping center, the mall struggled to attract tenants after being enclosed.

The Richland Mall had welcomed increasingly fewer shoppers and several failed redevelopment plans for over half a century when demolition began in March, marking a new chapter in the city’s history.