Karcher Mall gets new owners, new management firm

By Lora Volkert

IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW

Karcher Mall, which has faced high vacancy rates for some years, is under new management.

Karcher Mall was purchased May 7 by a holding company called LB Nampa Mall Holdings LLC. The new owners hired Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate services firm with offices in Chicago, to manage the Nampa mall and take responsibility for leasing its vacant retail space.

Jones Lang LaSalle manages more than 280 shopping centers on four continents.

“With our expertise and core focus in shopping center management, leasing and marketing, Jones Lang LaSalle is developing plans to further strengthen the position of Karcher Mall in the Canyon County market,” Steve Bowers, senior vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle, said in a press release June 2.

Bowers was traveling at press time and unavailable for further comment. LB Nampa Mall Holdings could not be reached.

A Gunstream Commercial Real Estate report published last winter tallied Karcher Mall’s vacant square footage at 172,693. According to the mall’s managers, the shopping center’s total square footage is 599,360, but Gunstream puts it at 466,000.

The discrepancy may have to do with whether Ross and Big 5 Sporting Goods, which are in separate buildings from the enclosed mall, are included in the total.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s figures put the mall’s vacancy rate at 28.8 percent. Gunstream’s put vacancy at 37 percent.

Karcher Mall was struggling before an anchor tenant, Emporium, declared bankruptcy and closed all its stores last spring. That event left 77,000 empty square feet at the main entrance.

The last store to be added to the 40-year-old mall was Big 5, which opened last November.

Karcher Mall’s previous owner, New York-based DLC Management Corp., bought the property in May 1998 and in 2000 completed a $3.2 million renovation.

Mall retailers have expressed hope that the Karcher Interchange – scheduled for construction beginning late this year – and new nearby stores such as Lowe’s, Home Depot and Costco – which plans a store in 2006 – will increase interest in Karcher Mall among national retailers.