A charter school buying a former department store at a beleaguered former regional shopping mall in Nashville as part of a major adaptive re-use project won the 2023 CoStar Impact Award for the sale/acquisition of the year as selected by a panel of local commercial real estate professionals.
KIPP Nashville, which is part of nationwide network of charter schools, paid nearly $10.5 million to buy the former Macy’s at Global Mall at The Crossings. The site followed a long and convoluted saga before its planned rebirth as a chart school.
Macy’s closed the location in 2012 and a local real estate developer bought the former department store site a year later. The investor sold the property in 2016 to a local fund that had plans to convert the space into general office use similar to what it had done with a former Sears location.
Global Mall, which had been known as Hickory Hollow Mall when it opened in 1978, declined rapidly in the mid-2000s. The Chattanooga, Tennessee-based owner started redevelopment efforts in 2012 but ended up selling the interior portion to a local hotelier for $1 million who later changed the name to Global Mall.
Nashville-Davidson County bought the mall last year and now is doing a redevelopment study looking to bring new life to that area of Nashville.
About the Project: The completed KIPP academy will occupy 200,000 square feet over two floors. For the first four years of operation, the project will provide classroom space for 250 elementary school students, 250 middle school students, and a 500-student high school. In year five, the elementary and middle school will relocate, and the high school will begin to grow to its full enrollment, which is projected to be 1,000 students.
What the Judges Said: “This acquisition and subsequent reuse of the property for a school is not only a great redevelopment project but one that fulfills the need of the growing school district,” said Amanda Foster, managing broker with Southeastern Commercial Properties. “Repurposing this building is much more cost and time effective and I hope to see more projects like this in the future.”
They Made It Happen: President and CEO Andy Howell of C.A. Howell, Partner Karl Jentoft of The Ten Square Group, Director of Project Management Craig Laine with Brookside Properties and Executive Director Randy Dowell of KIPP.