May 17—Two of the three Village Mall parcels placed up for auction this week were reportedly sold, leaving the fate of one section still undetermined.

Danville Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr., in an email to media outlets, reported the developments.

Having been sectioned off a few weeks ago with temporary walls, the former mall on north Vermilion Street was sent to auction in three parts — the interior portion, the parking lot, and the strip mall.

Williams reported that interior portion of the mall sold to an as-yet-undisclosed buyer for around $600k after taxes and fees. It includes the former Burlington Coat Factory and Carson's, the movie theater, the Food Court, the restrooms, and the DACC Barber College, as well as a few stores that are still in operation — including JoAnn Fabrics, Bath & Body Works, Hibbett's, CitiTrends, and Jodi's Dance Studio, although the dance studio is planning to move out in June of this year.

The Outlot — the section of the parking lot between Aspen Dental and the old Sears Automotive — sold for around $60k after taxes and fees, Williams said.

The Strip — including County Market, Ross, Pet Supplies Plus, and Dunham's — remains unsold, however. With a minimum starting bid of $1.75 million, this was the most expensive section up for auction. Although there was a final bid of $3.75 million, the auction's undisclosed reserve amount wasn't met, so the strip did not sell.

Williams said it is unclear what will happen to that portion of the mall now.

Notably, the Slumberland & Shoe Sensation stores were not part of this sale, as that building is owned by Slumberland. Other businesses that share the parking lot with the mall — including Aspen Dental, Buffalo Wild Wings and McDonald's — are independently owned and were not part of the sale.

Though the city put in a bid for the mall — which had a total selling price of $4.5 million— it was outbid, Williams reported.

As far as what to expect for the future of the former mall, that remains unclear.

"Local developers we spoke with wanted to keep all existing businesses and planned to expand both shopping & entertainment options, so it's our prayer that one of them won," Williams said.

"We have been working behind the scenes to ensure the future success of this facility and will continue to do so," he assured his constituents.

The activity surrounding the mall's future marked a significant development and comes after years of declining business, tenant departures, and a lack of engagement from the mall's owners, the T Danville/Tabani Group, which is incorporated in Texas but operates internationally.

The auction marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing saga of the Village Mall, which has seen a steady decline in recent years, like many malls around the country.

Today's consumers shop differently than during the mall's glory days. With the rise of giants like Amazon and Temu, consumers have begun to prefer the ease and privacy of online shopping since the global COVID pandemic began in 2020. This change has been particularly hard on brick-and-mortar businesses who rely on in-person shoppers to browse their shelves.