The Oaks Mall Plaza will be sold on April 26, according to a notice of sale the U.S. Bank National Association submitted to the Alachua County Circuit Court.
Rushmore Properties, which owns the plaza located at 6711 W. Newberry Road, owes the banking association about $14 million from a loan issued in 2006. On March 6, a final judgement of foreclosure was issued on the case that was first filed in August, according to court records. The Oaks Mall Plaza is adjacent to the Oaks Mall but is separately owned.
The judgement was handed down about a week before Toys R Us, one of the anchors of the plaza, announced it would close. Other properties in the shopping center include Starbucks, Jason’s Deli and Super Optical Express, according to the website of Southern Management and Development, who formally managed the property.
For Dave Walker, a co-owner of Bearded Browncoat Comics & Games, the possible foreclosure doesn’t affect the everyday business of his one-month-old comic book shop. As of now, he still sends his rent check to a court-appointed management company, Crossman & Company, instead of Southern Management and Development.
The bank’s attorney, Kevin A. Reck, filed an emergency motion against the borrower, Rushmore Properties, and Southern Management and Development for not providing information and documents to Crossman & Company but withdrew the motion against the management company on Thursday. Reck did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Southern Management and Development also did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
John Crossman, CEO of Crossman & Company, said their goal is to clean up the property and begin marketing to new tenants.
“We love Gainesville,” he said. “We love that property as well, it’s one of the main entrance points to the city.”
Crossman is listing vacant spaces in the plaza including a movie theater.
Walker expects the theater and other vacancies will fill eventually.
“Things come and go, and I’m sure the movie theater will open again,” he said.
Contact Meryl Kornfield at mkornfield@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @merylkornfield.
