Mounds Mall Owner Shoots for 2023 Reopening
Mark Squillante acquired the mall in 2019. (photo courtesy of John P. Cleary/The Herald Bulletin)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe owner of Mounds Mall in Anderson says he hopes to reopen the shopping center in 2023. Mark Squillante, who purchased the mall in 2019, tells our partners at The Herald Bulletin he has already invested $350,000 into the building’s redevelopment.
The mall closed in April 2018 and Squillante acquired the building in a certificate sale a year later. While it has taken longer than he planned to reopen the mall, Squillante says he is not sorry he bought it.
“I’m disappointed the mall hasn’t opened, but the world has changed since then,” Squillante told the publication. “If we could have opened in the beginning of 2020 we had an investor that would have gotten the project moving forward.”
Squillante is still dealing with legal issues with the Cook family, who previously owned the mall and removed the seating and projection equipment from the Anderson Mounds Theater. In a lawsuit filed in 2019, the family claimed it owns the theater property.
The publication reports there are also legal issues involving the land where parking lots are located.
Squillante aims to convert the mall into an event and entertainment center, a project that could cost up to $10 million. He tells The Herald Bulletin he wants the food court feature small businesses that can’t afford a standalone location and the Sears building will be used for conventions.
He says his goal is to spotlight entrepreneurs who want to open small businesses in the mall with a focus on local and regional retailers.
“For the first two years we will be giving out lots of rent abatements,” Squillante said. “So we won’t be making a lot of money. I’m not doing this to make money. I want to leave something that is my mark in the world. This is something that will be near and dear to the citizens.”