Greenspoint Mall is under contract for redevelopment, but the sprawling property isn't closing anytime soon.

A group of investors has agreed to purchase the struggling mall from Triyar Cos. and transform it into a mixed-use development, but both parties now say it'll be years before construction begins.

The deal, expected to close within four months, involves a five-year period during which the investors will design the project, seek community input and pay off a substantial financial note underpinning the purchase.

Triyar, which owns a number of other real estate projects, will continue to operate the mall until the note is paid off. 

"Redevelopment is a very long-term process," said Bob Yari, a Triyar executive and president and CEO of Yari Film Group in Los Angeles. "We're trying to time everything with (tenant) leases expiring." 

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Global Plaza Union, a group of investors led by Chinese developer Feng Gao, is considering three concepts involving a mix of residential and commercial space, but it declined to offer details. 

Reggie Gray, president of the Houston Intercontinental Chamber of Commerce and a partner in the project, said group will use the five-year payoff period to conceptualize the redevelopment and seek input from residents about what they'd like to see as part of it.

"We want their feedback, honestly," he said. "We have some areas of flexibility where we're trying to see where things could be integrated and that would still work with the concept."

The redevelopment process itself will likely take up to five years. The group must first purchase the Sears, Macy's and Dillard's department store spaces, which are operated independently of Triyar.

An investor has purchased the Macy's property with the intent to turn it into a truck stop and perhaps a distribution center, said Jim Maddox, a broker with Maddox Properties. He disclosed Monday that the deal closed in early July, a few months after the department store ceased operations there.

Maddox has for months been in touch with Triyar executives and others regarding possible plans for the property, he said, but he didn't known it was under contract until the news broke late last week. He added that his client has considered the investor group's offers for the Macy's property but doesn't have a strong interest in selling it because the truck stop could be lucrative.

"It ain't pretty, but it makes money," Maddox said. "Think about the amount of truck traffic that goes up and down I-45."

Gray said negotiations for all three former department store properties are underway.

"I refer to it as my legacy project," he said. "It has the momentum to change the area that used to be referred to as Gunspoint."

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The mall has for years languished as a result of competition from newer malls, office market vacancies, and changes in the way shoppers buy and browse for goods. Triyar for years considered redeveloping the property before tabling its plans.  

"Everything that's happened to the area has worked counter to that," Yari said. 

If the sale to Global Plaza Union falls through, Yari said, his company would likely resume its plan to renovate the mall. It's pursuing similar efforts at two mall properties in Indiana and Ohio. 

But the company has in recent years sold off several mall properties facing similar pressures. Yari said he's looking to invest instead in other retail sectors. 

"High end (retail) is doing well, but the midlevel is challenged," he said. "We have vastly reduced the number of malls we own."