MACON, Ga. — Plenty of buzz was made on social media this week regarding the future of the Macon Mall off of Mercer University Drive in West Macon.
A Facebook post with over 600 shares alleged that the mall had been sold to Mercer University and that stores would be closing to make space for student housing. The post was public, but has since been taken down.
13WMAZ set out to verify if a sale had, in fact, been made. To find the answer we spoke to Kyle Sears, director of Mercer's media relations and to Coles Doyle, marketing director for Hull Property Group, which owns the mall.
"Mercer has not purchased the Macon Mall property for student housing or for any purpose," Sears said. "That is a baseless rumor that's swirling around on social media."
Sears said that the only housing expansion the university was doing was right by campus at their new Lofts at Mercer Landing II location on Mercer University Drive.
"That's really our only plans for additional student housing at this point. We'll add a couple hundred beds of lofts style apartments, and those will be finished in July and they will open to students when they move in for the upcoming fall semester," Sears said.
We verified that a sale to Mercer was false, but that still begged the question whether or not the mall was up for sale at all. Doyle, of the Augusta-based real estate company, put that rumor to bed as well.
"At this time, we do not have plan to sell or shut down the Macon Mall," Doyle said. "We're continuing to market the mall as a shopping and dining venue. We're continually working to attract new retailers and new restaurants to the Macon area."
Doyle said restaurants like Dry Falls Outfitters, Ole Times Country Buffet, and Burlington Coat Factory are all doing well. Hull Property Group also had two new restaurants sign five-year leases at the mall.
Neither Doyle nor Sears knew where the rumor could have come from. For now, neither the university nor the real estate group have plans to sell property to each other.
13WMAZ reached out to Pam Stornelli, the woman who posted about the mall, but she did not respond before this article was written.