Gwinnett County Buys Macy's Store To Expand Redevelopment Of 'Stranger Things' Mall

Gwinnett County is expanding its control over the Gwinnett Place Mall as it works to redevelop and resuscitate the aging property.

The Gwinnett County Commission voted Tuesday to spend $16.5M to acquire the Macy's department store and furniture store at the mall, a property that includes parking lots and spans 23 acres.

The purchase is being conducted by the Gwinnett County Urban Redevelopment Agency, which earlier this year tapped CBRE to plan the property’s total redevelopment.

The purchase means that the county now controls a total of 76 acres of the former mall property, including the central 526K SF indoor mall portion that was previously used as the set for the third season of Netflix’s Stranger Things. Gwinnett purchased the inline stores, food court and former Belk anchor for $23M in 2020 from Moonbeam Capital, whose previous ownership had become a frequent source of frustration for county officials for failing to initiate any redevelopment efforts of the now-defunct mall. 

But the purchase now means Gwinnett has more real estate to accomplish the transformation of the mall into its Global Village plan first unveiled in 2022. The vision calls for 3,800 new residential units, 50K SF of office space, 55K SF of retail and a 50K SF cultural center surrounding a 13-acre public park. 

“The acquisition of the Macy's site marks a pivotal step forward in the redevelopment of Gwinnett Place Mall, setting the stage for Gwinnett County to establish a national — and possibly international — model for equitable and impactful transformation,” Gwinnett County Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson said in a statement.

Remaining anchors Beauty Master and Mega Mart own their stores, and Charlotte developer Northwood Ravin owns the shuttered Sears store, which it plans to convert into an apartment tower.

The Macy’s is expected to remain open until early 2025, officials said. CBRE is expected to issue a request for proposals early next year for developers to tackle the redevelopment project.

Gwinnett officials are betting that the redevelopment of the mall would drive an economic boom in the county. A 2023 study by the Gwinnett Place Community Improvement District, which includes the mall property and surrounding 5.6M SF of office space and 15.7M SF of industrial properties, warned that significant delays to the redevelopment could mean the county could lose the potential for millions of new dollars of public revenue and thousands of jobs.

“Gwinnett Place CID is already punching above its weight,” Gwinnett Place CID Joe Allen told Bisnow earlier this year, citing its estimated economic impact to the county. “By creating a new urban core at the old mall site, we could blow that $15.9B economic impact out of the water, elevate property values and spread a halo of benefits to surrounding areas in the county.”