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The former entrance into the Steeplegate Mall through JCPenney had been closed off by April 14, 2022. Cassidy Jensen

The east entrance of the Steeplegate Mall in Concord on Monday afternoon. GEOFF FORESTER

Inside the Steeplegate Mall on Loudon Road Feb. 15, 2022. Cassidy Jensen

The interior of Steeplegate Mall was bare on April 14, 2022 without interior tenants that were ousted this month. Monitor file

Months after the promise of an “exciting potential project,” the interior of Steeplegate Mall remains lifeless while the property owners have offered little information on any plans for the cavernous space.

Curious community members took to Facebook in search of updated information after Namdar Realty Group, the New York-based firm that owns the 480,000 square foot mall, evicted the five remaining interior tenants who were the lone holdouts among dozens of empty storefronts.

“At this time, no further information than that which was provided by the team previously is currently available on the project,” wrote senior communications manager Adelaide Godwin in an email to the Monitor. “Management has confirmed that the mall’s interior has closed, including the in-line tenants, and only exterior facing tenants with public access remain open at this time.”

Management would not comment on whether any plans are in the works, Godwin said.

In February, the five interior tenants of the mall received notice forcing them to close their doors and vacate their rental spaces. Some busi ness owners had years left on their leases.

By April, four of the five interior businesses — Blue Sky Hair Studio, the Jeweler’s Workbench, The Arch Threading and Spa and Wireless Touch — had relocated to various parts of the city while the owner of Mt. Everest Goods closed its door permanently.

Exterior tenants — The Hatbox theater, Zoo health club, Altitude trampoline park, Chico’s, Talbots and JC Penney — have been allowed to remain , but were asked to close all interior doors and vacate any additional internal spaces, many of which were used for storage as part of their leases.

Without plans in the foreseeable future, former tenants expressed frustration with Namdar Realty Group and the decision to evict them.

“They have no compassion. We had to up and change our lives and now the mall is still sitting there,” said Jeweler’s Workbench owner Gregg Mezzapelle. “They blindsided all of us inside the mall and said ‘You’re out,’ and gave us a short period of time.”

Carrie Foote, owner of Blue Sky Hair Studio, remains puzzled by the sudden eviction, but is happy with her new location across the street on Loudon Road.

“I’m wondering if they had something planned and it didn’t go through and they kicked everyone out before it became a done deal,” Foote said. “After we left, they still continued to leave the mall doors open for another two weeks which didn’t make sense.”

Mezzapelle, who worked in the mall since it opened in the early 90s, is similarly happy with his relocation to South Main Street, which he said brought in many new clients.

Namdar bought the ailing mall in 2016 for $10.3 million. Mezzapelle said Namdar is a company that buys failing malls.

Namdar owns 59 shopping malls around the country, including two in Connecticut and one in Maine. Steeplegate Mall is the only Namdar-owned mall in New Hampshire.

When the mall opened in 1990, it quickly became a center of city life. Built with room for about 60 stores, it was a retail and economic powerhouse in Concord. Now is has just six stores left, with two of its main anchor stores — Sears and Bon Ton, gone for years.

The city still values the massive commercial property at $12.6 million.

Deputy City Manager Carlos Baia said this week the city has received no updates from Namdar.

Baia said in February the city had long hoped to see the mall reconfigured in some way. Baia said the city would like the property to become mixed-use between retail and housing spaces due to the overwhelming need for additional liveable units in the city, but communication between Namdar and city officials has been stagnant.

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