The Holiday Village Mall has been sold.
Catalyst Commercial Properties agent Ryan Pachek, the real estate salesperson for the property, confirmed Friday morning that the four-decade-old shopping center sold this week. After being prompted, Pachek said the mall’s incoming owner is not local.
The starting bidding price for the 24.22-acre property was $250,000.
Pachek did not say the selling price.
The property was listed on the commercial property website Ten-X Commercial. The bidding started Monday and ended on Wednesday.
The transition is not expected to affect businesses inside the mall, a previous statement from mall manager Michael Liese said:
“We do not expect the sale to impact the operations of the center. We anticipate a smooth transition to new ownership and expect the center to continue serving the community as a viable shopping destination.”
The goal of selling was to find someone to bring the shopping center back to its glory days.
“We hope to find a buyer who can give the center the needed attention it deserves and restore it to a vibrant, retail destination for the community,” the statement says.
A screenshot of the listing on Ten-X before it was sold and taken off the website.
Talk of selling the mall had been bubbling for some time.
As reported by the Herald in 2018, the Holiday Village Mall, along with other commercial properties owned by Security National Properties, was listed to go to auction at the end of that year.
As far as the Havre property is concerned, that never happened.
Then the sale was moved to Jan. 8. A public notice to that effect was posted in Havre Daily News.
The mall was never sold to another owner then, either.
Security National Properties Funding IV-Havre LLC has been the listed owner of the property since 2014. This was confirmed recently by Hill County records and title company records. Montana Cadastral has also shown the same owner since before the purported sale up until now as well.
There are no public records indicating the mall has acquired a new owner anytime within the last few years.
Pachek was the listing agent for a “financial institution,” he said.
Security National is a commercial real estate company.
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The last couple of years have been rough for the mall.
In 2018, Holiday Village lost two anchor stores, Herberger’s and Sears Hometown Stores, both of which closed stores across the country.
By the end of this year, its last anchor store, North 40, is expected to be gone as well.
The Holiday Village Mall was built for $8 million. The project was spearheaded by developers Ted and Jack Mitchell, a father-son duo out of Great Falls. It opened on Nov. 8, 1978 and had leased 40 of the 43 business spaces by opening day, providing jobs for somewhere between 500 and 600 workers.
The mall now lists 24 tenants on its website directory, including North 40 Outfitters.
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Email Paul Dragu at [email protected]
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