Ongoing deterioration at the 58-year-old Regency Square Mall has generated city code compliance fines of $1,775,750, as of Jan. 29, to the ownership of the largely vacant multitenant retail space at the shopping center, according to the city.
That may be coming to a settlement with a new owner.
The city said in an email Feb. 3 that the Jacksonville Office of General Counsel has met with the prospective buyer, Blackwater Development LLC President Rurmell McGee, and sent him a copy of a settlement agreement template to review and, pending due diligence to make the purchase, to complete.
McGee had no comment Feb. 4.
The fines
Five cases show fines accruing from 1,078 to 439 days.
The cases, starting from Feb. 16, 2022, to Nov. 17, 2023, generated daily fines from $250 to $500.
They comprise:
• Ceiling in an unsanitary condition, totaling $539,000, based on a $500 daily fine starting Feb. 16, 2022.
• Ceiling has holes and cracks, totaling $539,000, based on a $500 daily fine starting Feb. 16, 2022.
• Ceiling damage due to a leak, totaling $294,000, based on a $500 daily fine starting June 21, 2023.
• Leaking roof, totaling $294,000, based on a $500 daily fine starting June 21, 2023.
• Damaged flooring, totaling $109,750, based on a $250 daily fine starting Nov. 17, 2023.
The mall ownership
Regency Square Mall, at 9501 Arlington Expressway, was the area’s first large regional mall.
It dominates the site at Atlantic Boulevard, Monument Road and the Arlington Expressway.
As of Feb. 3, two tenants continued to operate within the interior of the east wing of the mall – Rogers Jewelers and food-court tenant Tokyo Sakura.
The only public entrance was in the back of the mall, facing north, into the food court. Visitors can’t go much further, stopped after Rogers Jewelers by caution tape.
Hundreds of trash cans and buckets are positioned to catch rainwater from holes in the ceiling in the east side of the mall. The west side of the mall is not accessible to the public.
Regency Realty LLC, a partnership of Mason Asset Management and Namdar Realty Group LLC, both based in Great Neck, New York, paid $13 million for the bulk of the 1.4 million-square-foot mall Feb. 14, 2014.
The city code compliance citations were issued to Regency Mall Realty LLC, Regency CH LLC and Regency Nassim LLC, the mall’s ownership group.
Property records show Regency Mall Realty LLC now owns almost 74 acres and about 980,200 square feet of retail space in the mall.
The 2014 purchase included the AMC Theatres property, which Regency Mall Realty then sold a year later to a Kansas City investment group for $26.2 million. Regency Mall Realty made another $7 million in 2016 when it sold the former Belk department store to Impact Church of Jacksonville Inc., which operates in the space.
Through Regency Mall Realty, Namdar Realty owns the east and west wings of the mall, but not the central Impact Church; or the Dillard’s Clearance Center in the west wing; or the closed Sears at the end of that wing.
Blackwater Development LLC of Lake City announced in October 2023 it had a contract to buy the part of the mall that Namdar owns.
McGee first said he expected the sale could close in the third quarter of 2024 and then extended that to the first quarter of 2025.
“We sent the prospective buyer a copy of the settlement agreement template to review on 12/2/2024, following a meeting where he met with OGC,” the city said Feb. 3 in response to a public records request. OGC is the Office of General Counsel.
Thomas Register, chief of municipal code compliance with the city Neighborhoods Department, emailed McGee on Dec. 2, 2024, with an application and agreement to settle the fines.
He asked McGee to complete one for each case.
The five-page “Agreement for Settlement of Fines Imposed by the Municipal Code Compliance Enforcement Board/Special Magistrate” outlines terms and time frames for the permitting and completion of improvements; settlement or release of fines and liens; default; and other terms.
Sprouts of redevelopment
Signs of potential redevelopment are showing.
Major parts of Regency Square Mall would be demolished and the property redeveloped with multifamily housing, retail, entertainment and other uses pending the largely vacant regional mall’s sale, McGee said May 29.
In recent months, a site plan has emerged that shows 11 outparcels lining the Atlantic Boulevard and Monument Road corner on the east side of the mall property.
A gas station and convenience store is shown on one and Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers on another.
McGee has declined comment on those plans.