Exploring Rolling Acres Abandoned Mall

• Report rights infringement
• published: 31 Oct 2016
• views: 4300

Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, Ohio opened in August of 1975. Built by Forest City Enterprises, it was the largest and newest of the three enclosed shopping malls in the Akron area, as well as the most modern. The mall initially opened with a Sears anchor store and 20 inline stores, but over the next three years added three more anchors including J.C. Penny’s, Montgomery Ward, and an O’Neil’s department store. A three-screen cinema run by General Cinema Corp. opened in August of 1976. Though still very popular going into the 1990’s, the mall’s reputation for safety suffered due to several widely publicized incidents, including a shopper getting mugged and beaten on her way out of the mall. A few months later, pandemonium broke out after two men fighting in front of the cinema knocked over a metal sign, which sounded like a gunshot as it hit the ground. Panicked shoppers fled the mall, and several stores closed early. In May of 1992, the mall closed early after the Rodney King trial verdict, with management fearing “civil unrest.” The cinema closed in 1993. The critical factor in the mall’s decline came in January of 2000, when Forest City Enterprises, which had owned and operated the mall since it’s opening, sold the mall to a developer for $33.5 million dollars. This began a long period of instability, with ownership of the mall changing every few years, and the new owners holding off on investing in upkeep while they tried to sell it again. Macy’s, which had taken over the Kaufman’s store a few months earlier, closed in December of 2007. By fall of 2008, only eight stores remained. The food court was virtually deserted, and buckets scattered throughout the mall caught water falling through holes in the roof. The owner of the mall fell behind on tax payment and utility bills, leading the power company to threaten disconnection of utilities. Unable to pay the $130,000 electrical bill, mall management announced in late October at the electricity would be turned off within a few days, at which point the mall would permanently close. A few small stores held out until the power went out on October 31st, 2008. Two incidents in 2011 added to the grisly specter hanging over the mall: In April, a man died after being electrocuted while stealing copper from a power box outside the mall. The man was so severely burned that dental records had to be used to identify him. Then in November, the body of a Timothy Kern was found in a shallow grave behind the mall. The case would later be linked to a string of murders committed by Richard Beasley, the “Craigslist Killer.” The last holdout at the mall, J.C. Penny’s Outlet, closed on December 31st, 2013. Demolition of the mall began in October of 2016.

Exploring Rolling Acres Abandoned Mall

• Report rights infringement
• published: 31 Oct 2016
• views: 4300

Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, Ohio opened in August of 1975. Built by Forest City Enterprises, it was the largest and newest of the three enclosed shopping malls in the Akron area, as well as the most modern. The mall initially opened with a Sears anchor store and 20 inline stores, but over the next three years added three more anchors including J.C. Penny’s, Montgomery Ward, and an O’Neil’s department store. A three-screen cinema run by General Cinema Corp. opened in August of 1976. Though still very popular going into the 1990’s, the mall’s reputation for safety suffered due to several widely publicized incidents, including a shopper getting mugged and beaten on her way out of the mall. A few months later, pandemonium broke out after two men fighting in front of the cinema knocked over a metal sign, which sounded like a gunshot as it hit the ground. Panicked shoppers fled the mall, and several stores closed early. In May of 1992, the mall closed early after the Rodney King trial verdict, with management fearing “civil unrest.” The cinema closed in 1993. The critical factor in the mall’s decline came in January of 2000, when Forest City Enterprises, which had owned and operated the mall since it’s opening, sold the mall to a developer for $33.5 million dollars. This began a long period of instability, with ownership of the mall changing every few years, and the new owners holding off on investing in upkeep while they tried to sell it again. Macy’s, which had taken over the Kaufman’s store a few months earlier, closed in December of 2007. By fall of 2008, only eight stores remained. The food court was virtually deserted, and buckets scattered throughout the mall caught water falling through holes in the roof. The owner of the mall fell behind on tax payment and utility bills, leading the power company to threaten disconnection of utilities. Unable to pay the $130,000 electrical bill, mall management announced in late October at the electricity would be turned off within a few days, at which point the mall would permanently close. A few small stores held out until the power went out on October 31st, 2008. Two incidents in 2011 added to the grisly specter hanging over the mall: In April, a man died after being electrocuted while stealing copper from a power box outside the mall. The man was so severely burned that dental records had to be used to identify him. Then in November, the body of a Timothy Kern was found in a shallow grave behind the mall. The case would later be linked to a string of murders committed by Richard Beasley, the “Craigslist Killer.” The last holdout at the mall, J.C. Penny’s Outlet, closed on December 31st, 2013. Demolition of the mall began in October of 2016.