It appears that the CEA Group of Cambridge has taken over the 350,000-square-foot-Harbour Mall Property in Fall River, according to city’s office of economic development.
Plans include totally revitalizing the failed mall and to build a new shopping center. Construction is scheduled to take place in the second half of 2016 and is expected to generated about 700 jobs with about eleven hundred permanent jobs coming to fruition up the completion of the construction.
The 30-acre site of the New Harbour Mall has been largely vacant since Walmart moved out two years ago. Kmart remains open and there is a Santander Bank and a Staples store on the site. A few smaller stores remain open in the mall.
The state Economic Assistance Coordinating Council recently announced that the mall qualified as an Economic Opportunity Area, meaning the property owners can claim a set of tax credits if they redevelop the property.
To win that designation, the property owners and the city had to convince state planners that the property had been at least 75 percent vacant for the past two years.
The designation also allows developers to apply for a city TIF – tax increment financing – that would offer property tax breaks that would phase out over 10 to 20 years. Developers can also apply for state tax credits for money spent on development. If granted, tax credits can be sold on the secondary market, helping finance a development project.
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