The only store that remains open is Sears. The rest, from front door to back door, are shuttered. Even the parking lots are roped off, to prevent the liability owners might incur with injured skateboarders or walkers. The proposed reinvention into a new kind of retail, with a larger Bellevue library, remains on hold.
But could the Bellevue mall turn into a high school? Either replacing existing Hillwood High, or a new Bellevue High School?
Well, it's a little far-fetched, but completely out there? Not at all.
In fact, after a news story that Antioch's partly empty Hickory Hollow Mall may be used to hold college classes for Nashville State Community College, I called Councilman Charlie Tygard to see if anything along those lines might be cooking for Bellevue mall. Turns out he and Metro School Board member Kay Simmons had a "what if" conversation in the last couple of days.
"If it works for Nashville Tech, can it work for Bellevue?" Tygard said. "Could Bellevue Center be renovated to be a high school?"
The current owners, Foursquare Properties, paid $26 million for Bellevue mall with the intention of building a "lifestyle center" shopping area. Much like Hill Center in Green Hills, it would have pedestrian-friendly sidewalks lined with shops and restaurants. And, best of all for Bellevue-ites, the deal was made to include a large, modern public library.
But the $180 million proposal was put on hold until early 2010 because of the economic crash. Owners simply cannot get anyone to lend them the money.
"I talked to them two, maybe three weeks ago," Tygard said. "No one will loan money unless you walk in with major tenants that are sure things. The major tenants are reluctant to sign deals, because so many shopping centers have never gotten off the ground. It's the old chicken and egg deal."
Tygard said they are still fully committed to the plans. Metro Libraries Director Donna Nicely, and a spokeswoman for the mayor's office, both said that echoes what they have been told. A spokeswoman for Foursquare didn't return a voice mail message.
Nashville West, a shopping center on Charlotte Avenue, is wildly popular and was not around when the Bellevue Center deal was cooked up. If for some reason the redevelopment into a new retail center does not work, Tygard said the mall would be a more centralized location for a high school than Hillwood High is now. And a public library would fit right in.
Simmons said she did not talk to Tygard about moving or closing Hillwood. And until the deal with Foursquare gels or dies, this is all premature. But at the same time, "when the time is right, certainly the community would embrace the idea of a Bellevue High School," she said. She hears routinely that Bellevue residents "would embrace the idea of their own high school."
There is no money available for any of these grand ideas right now, of course.
"But maybe some creative thinking? It is a great property," she said. "It's kind of like spaghetti."
Until you throw it out there, you never know what might stick.
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