The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday spent more than $16 million to buy two Macy’s buildings — a department store and a furniture store — and 23 surrounding acres of the mostly vacant Gwinnett Place Mall, where a large mixed-use development is planned.
Macy’s will lease its stores back through early next year, but then they will close, said Nicole Love Hendrickson, the county commission chairwoman. The buildings total more than 293,000 square feet.
“It just offers a prime opportunity for us,” Hendrickson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “This just gives us greater flexibility with the concept.”
Macy’s in February announced it was closing about 150 stores nationwide. Around that time, the company reached out to Gwinnett’s economic development office about a sale, Hendrickson said.
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The five-member Gwinnett County Commission, comprised of four Democrats and one Republican, voted unanimously on the purchase, which will be financed through taxable revenue bonds at an interest rate of 7% or less.