Sale of Rhode Island Mall to Baltimore company complete

A rendering of lease configurations for the Rhode Island Mall. Image from Eastern Retail.

By Kim Kalunian, WPRO News

The Rhode Island Mall has been sold yet again.

Baltimore-based MCB Real Estate closed on their purchase of the mall on June 25. The sale price was not disclosed.

Previous owners, Winstanely Enterprises and Surrey Equities, bought the former Midland Mall in 2012 for $38 million dollars. They had most recently planned to turn the shopping center into factory outlets, but abandoned the plans earlier this year.

Now MCB Realty will likely turn the mall into a series of “big box” retailers.

A PDF from Eastern Retail shows a listing of the mall with four spaces available for rent ranging in size from 22,000 to 55,000 square feet.

The former Midland Mall began to lose retailers once their major anchor store, Filene’s, left the mall in the mid-1990’s and the Warwick Mall opened nearby.

Eventually the stores in the mall dwindled to just a few:  LensCrafters, GNC and First Place Sports were the only surviving retailers when the mall officially closed in the spring of 2011.

In 2013, Winstanley and Surrey sold off anchors Wal-Mart and Kohl’s in a $33 million dollar deal.

Before Winstanley and Surrey purchased the Rhode Island Mall in 2012, the mall was owned by GLL Real Estate Partners from Orlando, Fla.

Details have not been made available at this time about when the mall’s redevelopment will begin.