Snake-bitten mall is due a break, but not any taxpayer money

Allen Johnson
Greensboro News & Record

You can see it from U.S. 29, clear as day. Acres and acres of gray emptiness.

Time was, legend has it, that there were actual human beings in Carolina Circle Mall — living, breathing consumers who shopped there and ate meals there and even saw movies there.

Now all that’s left is a big, cold space that seems to sap the life out of any good intention that ventures near.

Not that some haven’t tried.

From a flea market to a police substation to court facilities to a GTCC branch to a postal encoding center to a place to walk and not get rained on, the defunct shopping center has seen its share of bright ideas and would-be saviors.

In 1999, the county considered locating social services offices, courtroom space and a branch of GTCC there. It was one of the most promising new uses for the building. The county needed more space; GTCC needed to expand.

But the commissioners balked at what in hindsight would have been a bargain. The motion failed, as it often does among this bunch, 6-5.

In 2001, an entrepreneur staged what he described as “an upscale flea market” at the mall.

That same year, Dr. Don Linder came along with the most grandiose vision yet, a sprawling sports and fitness complex that would span 100 acres and fill

1 million square feet of building space.

There would be a health club, an indoor swimming center and a gym. There also would be shops, offices, theaters and restaurants.

Linder plowed up part of the sprawling parking area and installed towering lights and soccer fields.

He had vision. He had money. And he had the numbers.

He regaled visitors with page after page of charts and demographics that showed why this part of town was a place to be. Growth and residential development were on the way, he said.

“He’s a good businessman, got a level head,” someone said back then. “If anyone can make it work, he can.”

He couldn’t.

Linder rolled up the soccer fields and folded his tent. Another one bit the dust.

Even other businesses around the mall had moved or died slowly on the vine. Service Merchandise, Toys R Us, Kmart.

All along, the last major retailer in the building stayed put even when all others had abandoned the site.

Like one of those lost Japanese soldiers who’d never heard World War II was over, Montgomery Ward gamely hung on until it was all alone, an island of furniture, house wares and appliance sales in a sea of darkness. You could hear the echoes.

Then even Ward’s closed for good in 2001, the victim of corporate bankruptcy.

But Linder’s not done just yet. Now he’d like to convert the mall site into a shopping center that would house a new Wal-Mart.

That’s welcome news. The area desperately needs more shopping options. Wal-Mart is the largest, most successful retailer in the known universe.

Problem is, Linder wants city money to help make it happen.

This is a tough call. Predominantly African American northeast Greensboro deserves better than it has gotten when it comes to retail development. Linder has been willing to take million-dollar chances in a market others have shunned.

But the good doctor and Wal-Mart need to do this one on their own.

The problem is not so much this particular project as the precedent such an investment would make for the future.

Where to draw the line? How to say no to future retailers who want public subsidies?

Another complication is that the payoff is unclear. Aside from mostly low-paying jobs, the new Wal-Mart and the other shops in the center would do little to enhance the local economy.

That’s why the William S. Lee Act, which empowers the state to offer economic incentives, does not provide such incentives for retail development. That’s not where the better jobs are.

Wal-Mart, meanwhile, has its share of proponents and detractors. But even some economically depressed areas have said no to its stores.

In 2004, voters in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood rejected a ballot initiative that would have allowed a Wal-Mart-anchored shopping center to be built.

That’s not to say that northeast Greensboro couldn’t use a Wal-Mart, if only for the sake of more convenient shopping.

But not at taxpayer expense.

As the Valhalla of “everyday low prices” surely can appreciate, that’s too high a cost to pay.