Uncertain Impact of Foreclosed Mall on a Wisconsin Downtow

Stevens Point city officials in Wisconsin are not sure about what will happen to the foreclosed CenterPoint Marketplace. Adding to their uncertainties is the effect that the foreclosure will have on other businesses in the downtown district.

Stevens Point lawyer Louis Molepske Sr. said that he is uncertain about what the current owners are planning to do with the repossessed mall. He is not also sure what will be the effects of the foreclosure on downtown Stevens Point.

Dial Properties Inc., owner of the CenterPoint Marketplace, allegedly owed about $2.49 million to Valley Bank based in Illinois. The bank filed foreclosure action on the mall and requested that the property be sold.

According to Molepske, the city government has offered to demolish the CenterPoint Marketplace, extend the Third Street and provide assistance to the Central Wisconsin Children’s Museum. But he is unsure about the amount of money that the city would be willing to spend to expand the Third Street.

Meanwhile, Mayor Andrew Halverson reiterated the city’s commitment to work with the new owners of the mall. He said that the foreclosure of CenterPoint Marketplace will not affect the plan of the Planning and Design Institute Inc. (PDI) for the development of Stevens Point downtown.

The PDI’s design for the city’s downtown consists of residential and commercial spaces in the area. Association of Downtown Businesses executive director Sarah Robinson said that when the CenterPoint Marketplace was foreclosed there were concerns because many linked the business conditions in the mall to the overall business situation on Main Street.

According to industry experts, downtown vacancy rate was no more than 4 percent, with the CenterPoint Marketplace excluded from the figures. They pointed out that it is just normal to look at the mall foreclosure as having a negative impact on the downtown business. They said that the reality is, CenterPoint Marketplace was foreclosed because of poor management and not because of poor location.

In the first six months of this year, the foreclosure crisis has crossover from the residential real estate market to the commercial real estate market. Already, many shopping malls, hotels, resorts and condominiums across the country have been foreclosed or are in some kind of foreclosure proceedings. Industry experts said that unless the economy makes a turnaround towards recovery in the coming months, more commercial properties will go into foreclosures.

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