Swansea Selectman Carreiro trying to mobilize support for mall redevelopment

SWANSEA — In an effort to mobilize public support of the Swansea Mall redevelopment effort, Selectman Chris Carreiro has launched the website walmartrestrictions.com.

The website and accompanying social media pages launched Monday and, according to Carreiro, the public has been quick to jump on board.

“In less than 24 hours our Facebook page had 500 likes, which I think is pretty good for 24 hours,” he said.

As the name suggests, walmartrestrictions.com outlines the deed restrictions put in place by Walmart when the big-box store purchased 20 acres of undeveloped land behind the mall in 2012. It’s Carreiro’s contention that these restrictions have hampered the prosperity of the mall and contributed to its decline.

To circumvent these limitations, Carreiro has proposed the town take the mall property through eminent domain, which he said would free the land from the deed restrictions imposed by Walmart.

“The mall has been very receptive to this because they have no exit strategy right now and this provides one,” he said. “With Macy’s recently leaving, the cost of keeping the mall open is now higher than the mall’s revenues.”

Macy’s announced it was closing its Swansea location earlier this month. Just a few days later, Yankee Candle and The Shoe Dept. also announced that their Swansea Mall stores will soon be closing.

Though malls throughout the country have struggled to keep businesses as online retail has become more popular, Carreiro said the Swansea property is still attracting the interest of developers wanting to maintain it as a retail space.

“The problem in Swansea is that when the retail industry shifted, it created a situation where the Swansea mall had too much square-footage to keep it open,” he said. “A decrease in square-footage and diversification of offerings would make it more sustainable.”

Though unable to say exactly how many developers are currently interested in the land, Carreiro said most plans either involve keeping the structure as is or demolishing some portion of it. Some concepts, he said, would demolish half the building and rebuild the demolished section into new structures that could support market-rate housing, senior housing, medical facilities, hotels, restaurants, or new retail businesses.

“Some want to capitalize on the fact they’d be buying this for pennies on the dollar. Keeping (the mall intact) would be very lucrative for them because they wouldn’t have to pay construction costs,” said Carreiro, who also suggested that the land might be a good site for municipal offices.

If the town chooses to take the mall by eminent domain, a redevelopment authority will have to be established for the project. That redevelopment authority would be tasked with creating an urban renewal plan for the mall and request permission from the state to take the land by eminent domain.

Carreiro said the Board of Selectmen still has to first schedule a town meeting at which the redevelopment authority could be created. As of Tuesday, he said he was not sure if the board would schedule the Town Meeting when they next meet.