By Jason M. Reynolds
Staff Writer
Gateway Mall & Business Center has nearly reached capacity and recently received a facelift as the family that owns it marks 15 years of retail involvement at the site.
"It's a great location, with great visibility off the interstate," said mall owner Lynda Halpin about the retail and business center at Interstate 75 and Cloud Springs Road.
Ms. Halpin said her father, Tom, bought Gateway in 1992. He died in September 2004.
Deb Holt was hired in December 2003 as facility manager to assist Mr. Halpin, and Ms. Halpin said she moved to the area two years ago from California to help run Gateway. Two brothers, Robert and Tommy, are co-owners.
The former Marketplace Mall had served as an antique mall in years past but was not fully occupied, Ms. Halpin said. Mrs. Holt has helped triple the 230,000-square-foot mall's occupancy rate since she was hired, Ms. Halpin said.
Only 30,000 square feet remain to be filled, and mall officials are in discussions with a potential tenant to fill that space, she said.
Ms. Halpin said she has spent about $250,000 to refurbish Gateway, including a repaving of the parking lot, landscaping, internal lighting and the installation of an electronic sign for increased visibility.
All the mall's profits are reinvested in the property, she said. Gateway is a peripheral mall, she said, with most tenants having external exits. The inside of the mall is often leased for banquets, arts festivals, Christmas functions and other events, Ms. Halpin said.
Longtime dance instructor Ginger Brown is one businesswoman who has helped fill Gateway Mall with her new 8,300-square-foot studio.
Ms. Brown last fall moved her Ginger Brown's Academy of Performing Arts to the mall from Ringgold Road in East Ridge, where she had been located for more than 20 years. The academy has four dance rooms, each with a musical or fantasy theme, Ms. Brown said.
She said she needed more space for dance rehearsals, especially for a dancing group called the Backporch Cloggers, which perform every summer in Gatlinburg, Tenn., for the Smoky Mountain Toons and Tales event.
Other new Gateway tenants include Karis Dion, a restaurant, comic book store Fantasy Factory and Super Street Custom Cycles, which moved from Battlefield Parkway, Mrs. Holt said.
Cloud Springs Road is a growing retail area, Mrs. Holt said, and the mall has seen an influx of shoppers spilling over from the adjacent Interstate Commerce Center.
Ms. Halpin said her family sold the 13-acre parcel on which the Commerce Center is located, as well as another nearby tract which was developed. The family has five more acres on the other side of the mall, but is not interested in selling, she said.
"If the economy stays good, this road will continue to grow," Ms. Halpin said.
E-mail Jason M. Reynolds at jreynolds@timesfreepress.com
