TUCKER, Ga. — In less than 30 days, stores inside Northlake Mall must move out, according to business owner Tony Cade.
Cade owns Challenges Games and Comics and has leased space inside the mall for three years.
He said on May 29, mall management sent him an email that said the owner of the mall is terminating merchants’ leases.
“This is my only form of income. It’s not like I’m making a lot of money doing it,” said Cade. “If the store closes down, especially at my age, I have no idea what I’m going to do.”
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Cade said the general manager of the mall was set to meet with renters Wednesday morning but did not show up.
Channel 2’s Courtney Francisco tried to stop by his office to ask why this is happening, but security asked her to leave.
“He gave me a call and informed me that the mall had been sold,” said Cade.
Tucker Mayor Anne Lerner sent a statement confirming the city was not made aware of the sale.
The city was not notified about the evictions nor of any sale. It’s my understanding the business owners were on month-to-month leases. As soon as the city was aware, our economic development team reached out to mall management and its leasing team to offer support to these businesses. Our economic development team is also in the process of following up directly with each of the business owners to understand their needs and connect them with potential leasing opportunities within Tucker.
— Tucker Mayor Anne Lerner
Customers said that at one point in its 50-year history, Northlake Mall was one of the largest in metro Atlanta at one point.
“Growing up, I mean, the mall was the place to be,” said Vanessa Mirando.
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Then, customers said they noticed shopping trends moving online. The mall is nearly empty now.
“Since opening in 1971, the Northlake Mall has been through several changes, updates and owners with the most recent being the most dramatic,” the City of Tucker’s website reads.
According to the website, ATR Corinth Partners bough the building in 2016.
“ATR Corinth Partners is a development and management company out of Texas and has worked well with the City and with the Tucker-Northlake Community Improvement District to help revitalize the area and have been great stewards of growth. The largest lease thus far has been with Emory Healthcare when they signed on to take over the Sears space in late 2019. The healthcare giant has re-envisioned the retail space into a mixed-use office space for medical administration and lab work and construction has been ongoing throughout the pandemic,” according to the city website.
“We’re all about events and doing stuff for the community,” said Cade.
He said the city is set to host a Juneteenth festival there this month. He said he also has a Marvel event.
“Even this weekend coming up, we’ve got a chess tournament for kids going on,” said Cade.
He said there is no time to pack up and move now.
Channel 2 Action News is waiting for the owner to respond to requests to comment on whether it will extend the deadline to leave.
“Even if I found a place, where’s the money going to come from to make the move?” said Cade.
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