CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — The core of Greenbrier Mall is set to be auctioned off in late February as part of the final act of a lengthy foreclosure process. On Feb. 24, bids will start being accepted at $6 million for the more than 562,000-square-feet of retail space that includes the Macy's and JCPenney department stores, interior mall shops and the former Abuelo's Mexican Restaurant. Formally purchased by Tennessee-based CBL Properties in 2004, the mall ownership group lost the property in 2022 after they defaulted on a nearly $62 million loan balance. CW Capital — a commercial real estate company — was appointed special servicer and hired CBRE Group, who has continued to operate the property to this point. While an agency hired to market the auction touts a positive operating income of $3.4 million per year, a longtime retail real estate consultant doubts anyone is looking to continue operating a declining regional shopping mall. Greenbrier Mall in foreclosure after defaulting on $62M loan "[CW Capital] is just simply trying to recover as much as they can for the lenders who are taking a loss on it," said Nick Egelanian, SiteWorks Retail Real Estate owner. "They're not thinking of it as an ongoing entity. They're thinking of it as just a flow of income and a diminishing flow of income." The mall is located on 55-acres of land off of Greenbrier Parkway in the "largest center for employment in the city," according to the auction ad. Originally opening in 1981, the mall currently has a 82% occupancy rate, with three of its four anchor stores remaining in operation: JCPenney, Macy’s and Dillard’s. There is also a Cinema Café on the ground floor. While the optics are better than nearby Chesapeake Square Mall and MacArthur Center, both of which also went through the foreclosure process in the last decade, Egelanian predicted in 2019 Greenbrier would not survive long-term. Efforts to redevelop the vacant Sears box-store with an entertainment district were scrapped for lack of city support. Across the country, indoor shopping malls have suffered in recent years — and the pandemic has only increased those problems — with shoppers opting to shop online and at discount retailers over traditional department stores that tend to be more high-end. Egelanian said construction of retail space in Hampton Roads also outpaced population growth for many years. He predicted only Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach and Patrick Henry Mall in Newport News would survive, his prediction proven true in nearly six years time. "There's three classes of buyers," Egelanian said. "There's one buyer that wants to operate the mall, and there's less and less of those today. There's another buyer that wants to just bleed them all of all of its income, and there's a third that wants to buy it for the land itself. And oftentimes, they just want to make it a different use." State of the Mall 2022: No more than 2 in Hampton Roads expected to survive The city of Chesapeake hasn't downplayed the mall's grim outlook. The planning department is currently finalizing the Greenbrier Area Plan, which takes into account the best use of the mall property. At this point, the city has made no public statements regarding a potential purchase of the mall site themselves. "We're really kind of monitoring things right now," said Steven Wright, economic development director for the city of Chesapeake. The city of Norfolk bought MacArthur Center in order to help redevelopment efforts. The Norfolk Economic Development Authority did the same for the former Military Circle Mall. However, Egelanian said public involvement is a cautionary tale. "These are complicated legal structures, often with multiple owners," Egelanian said. In the case at Greenbrier Mall, Dillard's and the former Sears property are not part of the auction. Dillard’s owns its store and Virginia Beach developer Mike Sifen owns the Sears. "Now they have to negotiate with the anchors," Egelanian said. "Look at Military Circle where Ross is holding everybody up. That's what happens. And so it can be very expensive to taxpayers. I always say for the cities, the better way to control it is through the regulatory process, where they already have the rights to to approve any major changes to uses and so forth."