Demolition begins at Georgia Square Mall in Athens, Ga., for a $660 million redevelopment plan led by The Leaven Group. Setbacks and delays are expected, but the project aims to revitalize the area with housing units and commercial spaces. Financing challenges persist despite optimistic outlook for the project's completion.
Georgia Square Mall photo
In 2023, the Athens-Clarke County Commission (ACC) approved a plan to redevelop the city’s Georgia Square Mall, but demolition work on portions of the shopping center just started at the end of March 2025.
In 2023, the Athens-Clarke County Commission (ACC) approved a plan to redevelop the city's Georgia Square Mall, but demolition work on portions of the shopping center just started at the end of March 2025.
Such delays are typical, said Mark Jennings, the property's developer, during a town hall meeting March 27, 2025 to provide an update on the effort, according to Flagpole, a weekly alternative publication in Athens, home to the University of Georgia.
Jennings said that when he is asked, "What's the holdup?" he answers by saying, "I didn't know there was one." His response, he added, is based on the fact that it takes an average of three to four years to break ground.
Jennings' company, The Leaven Group, won ACC approval to raze the shopping center in March 2023 and only received the necessary demolition and land disturbance permits in fall 2024.
Crews started to tear down some of the outparcels around the mall, Jennings told a crowd of about 200 people at the town hall meeting organized by Athens-Clarke County District 6 Commissioner Stephanie Johnson.
Next, he said workers will move on to the old movie theater behind the mall and, by the end of the year, Jennings hopes they will begin demolishing parts of the mall itself, starting with the old Sears store.
Georgia Square Mall will not completely shut down during the work, Flagpole noted. Instead, the few remaining tenants — including the Athens Police Department substation — will be allowed to move into the central portion of the mall, which will not be demolished.
The Leaven Group's plans call for keeping the area around the Belk department store, which has a long-term lease and surrounding it with 70,000 sq.-ft. of new commercial space (one possible tenant Jennings named was Dave & Buster's) and a total of 1,200 housing units, with apartments near Atlanta Highway/Business U.S. 78, as well as townhouses and a 55-and-up senior living center toward the back of the property.
In total, the project will cost an estimated $660 million — making it, according to Jennings, perhaps the largest development in northeast Georgia history — with $189 million covered by future tax revenue from the property. That latter figure represents the property taxes the development will generate over a 20-year period, according to Flagpole.
Athens Works to Spur Mall's Redevelopment
The city's mayor and commission created a tax allocation district (TAD) around the mall in 2020 to encourage redevelopment.
Under a TAD, taxes are fixed at the current level and any additional revenue from new development is plowed back into the district for a certain time period.
In Athens's case, the TAD will fund stormwater infrastructure and "community benefits," including 99 affordable apartments for low-income renters, greenspace and trees, walking and biking trails, a bus station, subsidized commercial space for women- and minority-owned businesses, space for the Boys & Girls Club and internships for Clarke County public school students.
But Jennings told the commission that he has not received any of those funds yet. An agreement between The Leaven Group and the ACC government calls for him to be reimbursed for eligible expenses, so he will not get the money upfront.
That has led to some challenges in financing the project, according to Jennings, so he is working with county officials to change the order in which construction proceeds.
The first phase of the redevelopment of the Georgia Square Mall, which includes demolition and stormwater drainage work, does not generate any value, he said, so banks have been reluctant to lend money.
"Our Phase 1 has no collateral value," he said. "If something goes wrong, [banks] don't want a detention pond in Athens, Georgia. They want an apartment building."
So far, Jennings has spent $31 million of his own money on the project, including $25 million to buy the mall, according to an annual update required by the TAD agreement filed March 18, 2025. During the town hall meeting, he said that he owns it outright and does not have any debt.
Jennings said repeatedly that setbacks were expected in such a complicated venture, especially considering that TADs are new to Athens and neither he nor ACC officials have worked with one before. He added that he enjoys a good partnership with the local government and is confident the project will come to fruition.
"We want it to be the nicest thing in the Athens area — the nicest thing Athens has ever seen," Jennings said.
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