November 18th, 2020 by WCBC Radio

The Cumberland Times News reports that the County Club Mall was sold Wednesday via online auction, according to a representative with the commercial real estate firm Ten-X.  The mall, excluding the property occupied by Walmart, has been placed in escrow following the acceptance of a successful bid from an undisclosed buyer. According to Ten-X, the identity of the buyer and the amount of the sale, will not be disclosed until the sale closes and the information is entered into public land records. Ten-X, formerly Auction.com, posted a notice in early October that the current owner, Gumberg Asset Management of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, had fallen into arrears with no payments made since May. A sale by auction was scheduled to run from Nov. 16-18 with a starting bid of $1.3 million.

Located at 1262 Vocke Road, the Country Club Mall opened in 1981. In recent months, the mall joined a long list of struggling ventures as the brick-and-mortar retail industry faced challenges as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Ten-X statistics show the mall is currently 52.3% rented.

Sears and Bon-Ton are among the previous tenants who have closed their doors. Another, JC Penney, which has been at the mall since it opened, closed its doors last month.

According to Ten-X, a balance of $21.9 million remains on an original note of $26.2 million. The winning bidder would be taking over the note, thereby giving them the rights to the property. The note is secured by a 391,062-square-foot portion of a larger 594,069-square foot-regional mall anchored by Walmart.

The mall is situated on 46.3 acres and its lone anchor tenant is Walmart. Other stores include American Eagle, Bath & Body Works, Country Club Cinemas, Shoe Show, T.J. Maxx and Ulta Beauty.