When the company you work for handles millions of dollars in commercial property nationwide and you’re talking about potential new businesses at those properties, chances are good that the words being used are measured.

 

So when Joe Bell of the Cafaro Company, the owner of the Meadowbrook Mall, goes a little bit further with a comment than usual there’s a chance there may be something to it. Of course, it could be nothing, but Bell believes the former space occupied by Sears at the mall will have a new occupant or occupants this calendar year.

 

“I haven’t heard anything definitive, but I know talks are under way with a couple of entities,” said Bell, Cafaro’s Director of Corporate Communications. “We do have some things in motion too yield fruit in the coming months. The mall is in negotiation with a couple of additional tenants.”

 

When pressed, Bell wouldn’t say if that meant for other spaces at the mall or potentially subdividing space at Sears. He did say breaking up the space at Sears is – and has been since its closing – a possibility.

 

“We don’t know how that will come out in the end, but we would ultimately say down the line this year we hope to have a deal announced. I can’t guarantee you on a timeline, but we’re heading in the right direction,” said Bell. “I can’t say whether it will be divided space, but I can tell you we have done it before with positive results.”

 

It goes without saying Bridgeport would like to see the Meadowbrook Mall remain vibrant. Bridgeport Finance Director Monica Musgrave said the mall is the main producer of retail business and occupation taxes in the city.

 

Long before the current budget process began, Musgrave said the loss of an anchor store such as Sears could impact the city’s take on taxes. She has also talked about it during the current budget process, but the city has appeared to have weathered the storm so far from Sear’s loss – at least in the three quarters the store has been out of operation.

 

The Bridgeport Sears store closed March 27 of last year. Since then, the retail take citywide (individual numbers for businesses or entities are not public information) for retail in the three quarters with numbers in show the April-May-June quarter of the 2017-18 fiscal year at $441,229. The July-August-September quarter number is at $431,368 and the October-November-December quarter at $487,356.

 

Ironically, those numbers were higher than the same quarters the year prior when Sears was still in operation. In the 2016-17 fiscal year of April-May-June, the city’s take was $400,041 in retail. In the quarter of July-August-September it was at $421,163. And in October-November-December it came in at $487,356.

 

Although she said she tries to be conservative and cautiously optimistic the city can survive a closure such as Sears, she also said it’s not something that caught her off guard.

 

“I don’t think it’s really surprising,” said Musgrave. “I think it indicates that people went to other stores at the mall or other retailers in the city. Sears leaving didn’t stop most from going to the mall and it didn’t stop people from shopping elsewhere in the city and using other services such as our restaurants. Certainly, we want to see the space filled, but the numbers show that the city did okay for most of the (fiscal) year without Sears.”

 

And maybe it will do better if – and when – that space becomes filled. Again, Bell thinks it’s going to happen this year at a property that is one of the better and older ones under Cafaro’s umbrella.

 

“Meadowbrook Mall still remains a very viable mall and property for us,” said Bell.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Harrison County resident Russ Colley looking for a bargain prior to Sears closing its doors in 2017, while bottom photo is of Bridgeport Finance Director Monica Musgrave.