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Muncie Mall is sold to Georgia-based property group

By Stephanie Wiechmann, IPR News | Published on in Business, Community, Local News
A 2020 map of the Muncie Mall. (File Graphic: The Woodmont Company)

After years of uncertainty over its future, the Muncie Mall has been sold to a new company.

Hull Property Group from Augusta, Georgia, says it owns 35 enclosed shopping malls over 17 states, mostly in the south and east.  But its portfolio already includes two Indiana properties – the mall and a Dunham’s Sports in Richmond.

In a statement, owner Jim Hull says “There are no bad properties, just bad ownership, and job one for us is to do the things necessary to improve viability for the existing tenants.”

Read More from 2019: Muncie Mall: Is It Sustainable For The Future?

The Muncie Mall lost its first anchor store in 2018 as part of a national decline in sales, eventually losing all its anchor stores.  New managers, The Woodmont Company, took over in 2020 to market the mall for sale from Washington Prime Group.  The next year, Washington Prime filed for bankruptcy and stopped paying the building’s mortgage.  The mall was eventually sold to Wells Fargo Bank in a county sheriff’s sale in 2023 so the financing bank could recoup losses.

Read More: Ball State at Muncie Mall: The Latest In A Decades-Long Design Center Movement

Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour has talked about the need to save the Muncie Mall since his first year in office in 2020.  That’s because it’s the second most-expensive property on the city’s tax rolls.

“The second largest assessed value that we have in the city of Muncie,” he said in his 2020 State of the City address.  “What does that mean to our city’s budget? Our public safety budget? Our library budget? Our school system budget? The Muncie Mall is very important to us, folks.”

No financial details were included in Hull’s press release.   When advertised in last year’s sheriff’s sale, the asking price was $32 million.

Stephanie Wiechmann is our Managing Editor and “All Things Considered” Host.  Contact her at slwiechmann@bsu.edu.