Future of Harding Mall up in air

Will Harding Mall at the intersection of Nolensville Pike and Harding Place become a mere memory soon?

Representatives of Gresham Smith & Partners have filed an agenda item for Russ Morris with the Seven Mile Creek Partnership with the Metro Stormwater Management Committee's Aug. 5 meeting, which reads: "Developer wants to demolish Harding Mall and replace with new retail store; wants to utilize presently disturbed floodway and floodway buffer of Seven Mile Creek."

"But they did not send a set of plans with their application," Sonia Harvat, spokeswoman of Metro Water Services, said, adding that to remain on the agenda, the applicants have to submit plans by Aug. 5.

Harding Mall Property Manager Connie Carpenter representing Colliers Turley Martin Tucker, Hardin Mall's current management company, said she did not "know anything about it."

The City Paper tried unsuccessfully to contact a representative of Seven Mile Creek Partnership, the owner of the 20-acre Harding Mall property.

The property was appraised at a little more than $12 million in 2003 with the land at $3.6 million and improvements to the land at $8.4 million, according to Metro records.

The property is zoned SCR - Shopping Center Regional - which is intended for high intensity retail, office, and consumer service uses for a regional market area.

The location has easy access from I-24 and I-65, and according to the mall's Web site, more than 140,000 shoppers live within a five-mile radius.

The Southeast Community Plan, the 2004 update of the Subarea 12 Plan, found that area residents would like to see transportation issues at the intersection of Nolensville Pike and Harding Road addressed. Residents have identified the intersection as a potential location for an inter-modal transportation hub.

The plan, which was adopted by the Planning Commission last week, also identifies the site as being proposed for a greenway trailhead.

Currently about 16 stores are available for lease in the mall, which encompasses more than 282,000 square feet and is anchored by Dillard's and Marshall's. Harding Mall was built in 1966 and expanded about eight years later. A renovation followed in 1989. But the mall has been struggling for several years.

Those renting space have not heard of any changes, according to the Nashville Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which has its offices inside of Harding Mall.

The lifespan of a mall depends on environmental factors including tenants, infrastructure and community activity, Patrice Duker, spokeswoman of the International Council of Shopping Centers, said.

"When we looked about two years ago at how many enclosed malls are in the country, at that time there was 1,130," Duker said, adding the average age of a regional mall was currently about 25-26 years.

"For the most part it's a pretty young sector of the industry and the other reason that we don't have a typical lifespan is because there are centers that were built in like 1956 that are still thriving."

While enclosed malls are still being built with three being planned this year and eight next year (at about 1 million square feet each), Duker said the current trend is definitely going towards open air centers with an entertainment component.