Spark amid silence: Storied Georgia mall seeks to reinvent itself

Local developer Mark Jennings envisions something grand: a nearly $700 million overhaul he calls “the nicest thing Athens has ever seen.”

Bridging past glory and future promise will take years.

On the second floor, though, is a sudden burst of life. Dozens of teenagers are gathered for something the aging mall once pulsed with: opportunity.

At a hiring fair hosted by the Boys & Girls Club of Athens, high school seniors meet with reps from Walmart, AT&T, Caterpillar, the military and local employers like the University of Georgia.

Lemuel “Life” LeRoche, who works for the club and runs a local nonprofit, never stops moving — offering pizza, encouraging teens to fill out applications.

“We’re repurposing the space as the mall rebuilds,” he said. “It’s about using what’s here to help students prepare for work and build social skills.”

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

In this in-between season, there’s a police substation and offices for nearly every military branch. A bridge club meets here. So do fencing and martial arts classes.

At the heart of this reinvention is the Boys & Girls Club’s YouthForce Innovation Hub — 6,000 square feet buzzing with teens and young adults learning job skills and exploring career paths.

Formerly a Charlotte Russe clothing store with mannequins and dress racks, there are now birdhouses for carpentry, podcast mics and a stage with smart boards for presentations.

Austyn Pope, 17, has been a regular since the hub opened in 2022. A natural writer, he’s picked up camera skills and is working on screenplays and planning to shoot a film this summer.

“If you have skills or interests, they’ll help you hone in on them,” he said. “You come here and get better at what you want to do.”

The space is stocked with computers, VR gear and screen-printing equipment. Teens take courses in time management, conflict resolution and financial literacy. They polish resumes, practice interviews and apply for jobs — often with help from local banks and employers.

“They can start touching and feeling and having field experiences,” said Sterling Gardner, the club’s vice president of workforce initiatives. “Because we like to say: ‘You can’t be what you can’t see.’”

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Roughly 50 students and young adults are regularly here. The goal is to place at least 30 into full-time jobs this year — and 100 annually by 2028.

“That would start breaking the cycle of poverty that a lot of kids in Athens are a part of,” said Christian Barner, a support specialist with the Clarke County School District.

Gardner said the club is focused promoting two issues in the community: workforce readiness and gang prevention.

In 2023, nearly 26% of Athens-Clarke County residents lived below the poverty line, more than double the national average of 12.4%. Since 2021, 11 homicides in the county were attributed to gang activity, according to police data.

“If these kids move into stable jobs and homes, then these cycles can be broken for families,” Barner said.

Plans include housing, other ‘community benefits’

When Georgia Square Mall opened in 1981, its 850,000 square feet shifted Athens’ commercial center to the west side. As recently as a decade ago, the mall was more than 90% full.

The handful of retail holdouts today — Belk, a jewelry store, a few clothing and shoe shops — draw only a trickle of traffic.

Newer retail outlets on the border of Clarke and Oconee counties slowly drained the mall’s lifeblood. The COVID-19 pandemic and rise of online shopping accelerated its demise. Other traditional malls around the state, such as North Point in Alpharetta, have experienced similar outcomes.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

A $660 million redevelopment plan — the largest in Athens history — calls for 70,000 square feet of commercial space and 1,200 apartment, townhome and senior living housing units.

Approved in 2023, the 90-page redevelopment plan was crafted by the Leaven Group, led by Jennings, Zaxby’s co-founder Zach McLeroy and Georgia Tech graduate Brian Lu.

Athens-Clarke County lawmakers have designated the area a tax allocation district. As redevelopment happens, property values are expected to rise, but the higher property tax revenue will go to ongoing improvements in the district.

So far, visible progress is mostly underground: storm drains, a retention pond and demolition work — essential, but unglamorous.

Jennings has urged patience.

“What’s taking so long? What’s the holdup?” he told residents at a March town hall inside the mall, echoing common questions. “I didn’t know there was one.”

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Jennings sees more than a rebuild. He sees a redefinition.

As part of the public-private partnership with Athens-Clarke County, he told the town hall the redevelopment is required to deliver “community benefits,” among them affordable apartments for low-income renters and support for initiatives like the Boys & Girls Club.

Jennings and McLeroy have been key for YouthForce.

In late 2020, McLeroy pledged $1 million to the Boys & Girls Club, earmarking the funds for workforce readiness initiatives. When the original space for the Innovation Hub fell through, Gardner reached out to Jennings, who had by then purchased the mall and agreed to set aside space for the nonprofit.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Music, chess and gangs

On a recent afternoon in May, the hub hums with quiet focus as a handful of teens collaborate on a group music project. The assignment: Write and produce a song centered on a community issue.

They’ve chosen substance abuse and addiction. It’s more than a creative exercise — they’re also building a budget for the music video and backing up their message with real-world research and data.

A big-screen TV flickers with a recorded interview from a professional music video director. One teen scrolls through lyrics on his phone, reciting lines under his breath. Another taps away on a laptop.

James Ford and De’Treviunte Cooper, two club instructors, move in and out of the clusters of activity. They check in on a middle schooler visiting for the day — a bright kid, straight As, Ford notes, but recently suspended for using derogatory language. Across the room, Cooper leans over a chessboard, where teens have been playing for hours. Ford pulls aside another kid for a heart to heart about a recent family arrest.

“We have kids that come in here with challenges,” Ford said. “But I tell moms all the time, ‘You’re going to get the best mentoring, hands down, here in this space.’”

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Ford, 49, and Cooper, 27, both grew up in Athens and attended Cedar Shoals High. Last year, four young men, including former Cedar Shoals students, were indicted on murder charges in the killing of a 3-year-old boy. Authorities have blamed the shooting on a gang rivalry.

“I probably know a mom, a cousin, an uncle, somebody that makes a connection,” Ford said. “With a lot of youth, there can be a missing family component. I try to fill in those gaps.”

Growing up, Cooper was always at Boys & Girls Club centers, playing basketball and battling friends on tables with spinning-top toys. But as he reached high school, he stopped going to the club and was drawn to gang activities.

“Once we get to a certain age, we kind of lose hope for success,” he said. “We get comfortable with a negative reality. Negativity becomes normal.”

Cooper pivoted and set his career path for social work. He now works at YouthForce daily and goes to high schools to help students prepare for events like the hiring fair.

“We’re all only able to live on pathways that we can see,” he said.