A fence appears around Staunton Mall…
3 minute read
July 17, 2021, 8:44 AM
While Elyse and I were on that trip to Staunton that I discussed earlier, we stopped by Staunton Mall to check in on the progress there. It would appear that the redevelopment plans for Staunton Mall are for real, because asbestos abatement appears to be happening in a few places, and a perimeter has been established around the building in preparation for demolition. Recall that I declared Staunton Mall to be a dead mall back in 2009, but it took until 2020 for the mall to finally close. That fence around the entire mall building, save for Belk, is a major step towards demolition and redevelopment.
Fencing in front of the former Wills/Books-A-Million store.
Fencing in front of the mall entrance for the Belk wing.
Fencing across the front of the mall, from the center court entrance down to Penney’s.
Fencing in front of the entrance to the former Peoples Drug/CVS store (later Always Be Prepared Outlet).
Fencing in front of the JCPenney building. This building was originally to have been retained in the redevelopment of the mall, but with the closure of Penney’s in October 2020, this is clearly no longer the case.
Fencing in front of the main entrance to Penney’s.
Fencing on the back side of the JCPenney building.
Fencing in front of the rear entrance to Penney’s. Asbestos abatement was being completed in the Penney’s building at the time that these photos were taken.
Exterior entrance to the former Peebles store. Like the JCPenney building, asbestos abatement was underway at time that these photos were taken. The yellow board across the entrance presumably came from the former Always Be Prepared Outlet military surplus store elsewhere in the mall, as the phone number on the board goes to them.
Fencing in front of the entrance next to the former movie theater.
Fencing in front of the loading dock for the former Montgomery Ward building.
Fencing in front of the entrance to the former Montgomery Ward building. Curiously, I saw no evidence of asbestos abatement work at the former Wards, despite the building’s being old enough to likely contain asbestos.
The Belk store, still open for business as usual.
So there you have it. I guess we’ll see what it looks like the next time I’m down that way. It’s kind of sad to see the old mall go, but at the same time, I admit that this change is long overdue.
Categories: Augusta County, Staunton, Staunton Mall