The owner of Wausau’s troubled downtown mall is turning the property over to its lender. CBL & Associates took the action after the mall lost two of its three anchor stores and a proposed $4.1 million loan deal with the city fell through.
CBL is essentially walking away from the property, according to Wausau’s Economic Development Manager Chris Schock.
“There are folks that walk away from their mortgage, and in essence, that’s what CBL is doing in this case,” Schock said. “They’ve notified the lender that they are returning the loan to the lender.”
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Wausau is asking the lender to find a new owner, and do it quickly, Schock said.
“They could do lots of things,” Schock said. “They could sell the mall, they could auction the mall, they could hold the mall and manage it as an asset … the city is pushing this issue primarily not because we think the mall is a lost cause and it’s dead, but because there are positive opportunities.”
Wausau city leaders hope to diversify the mall, and move the focus away from retail. A call to CBL was not returned in time for this story.
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