Developer Ben Carter — who’s in the middle of plans to re-develop Savannah’s Broughton Street retail corridor — has canceled plans for a fashion outlet mall in Augusta about four months before it was scheduled to break ground.
“While the Augusta retail trade area’s strong demographics remain attractive, I have decided to focus my efforts on the restoration of Broughton Street in Savannah’s Historic District and the development and lease-up of Tanger Outlets Savannah in Pooler,” said Carter in a statement Friday.
The 400,000-square-foot mall was slated to break ground this December on 70 acres off Interstate 20 and Riverwatch Parkway in Augusta.
In an initial announcement about the outlets, the developer said he was attracted to Augusta because of its two million plus metro population and ability to draw shoppers as far as Columbia, S.C.
Last month, the developer secured an agreement with the Georgia Theater Co. to move its 14-screen movie theater complex to another part of the property to make way for the mall.
Carter is currently co-developing a similar 400,000-square-foot outlet mall in Pooler with Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, a development scheduled to open in April 2015.
Carter said in June that construction was on schedule and he had pre-leased about 75 percent of available space, with more under negotiation. About 85 brands total are slated for the first phase of the mall.
The developer is also busy redeveloping Broughton Street in downtown, renovating more than three dozen properties in a $75 million project.
Several top brands, including L’Occitane, H&M and J. Crew, have signed leases or letters of intent for spaces along Broughton.