The auction of the Port Charlotte Town Center on Monday didn’t change much. Owners of the $44.8 million bankruptcy note submitted the winning and only bid of $100,000.
PC Mall LLC, a group of bondholders, now owns the title to the 54-acre property, which opened in 1989 off U.S. 41 and Murdock Circle in Port Charlotte.
Changing retail trends because of online shopping behemoths like Amazon have disrupted malls across the country. Washington Prime Group, the previous owner, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2021.
“It was pretty anticlimactic,” Dave Gammon, director of economic development for Charlotte County, said of the auction. “Pretty boring. It was a two-minute campaign. The bondholders now own the property, and the debt has been retired. Instead of the debt, they now own the property.”
The mall will continue operating as usual. If there are no objections over the next 10 days, the lender will take ownership of the mall. “The tenants are still there,” Gammon said. “The businesses are still open. The bondholders will likely start a new marketing process with real estate agents to market this property.”
Gammon was asked for his crystal ball take about when the next chapter of the Port Charlotte Town Center would play out.
“I would say they’ll take four to six months to market it to national investors,” Gammon said. “Maybe there would be a closing later this year. Then the developer would start working with county staff.”
A multifamily apartment complex connected with retail, medical and offices sounded like a good plan for what’s next, Gammon said.
“Where it is, it’s an absolutely fantastic location, the center of our community,” he said. “If you incorporate vertical mixed-use with residential, we also need offices and medical offices, walkable retail, a new shopping type of experience. I think that would be ideal. The site could easily accommodate all of that.”
Centennial, a third-party property management company, will continue overseeing the mall, said Chuck Taylor, senior vice president of client services for Centennial.
“it has the ability to meet all the varied needs of its target market with a wide array of potential multi-family or hybrid redevelopment possibilities,” Taylor said. “Therefore, although the center has been auctioned, the property is not closing; it will remain fully operational, and no change in management is anticipated.”
