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DANVILLE — The Village Mall’s online auction that was expected to start on Monday has been pushed back to February to garner more interested bidders.
According to the auction website LoopNet, the Ten-X auction listing for the Village Mall has the auction now being from Feb. 9-11. It had been scheduled from Jan. 26-28.
Being auctioned off is the 281,606 square feet, 10 percent leased enclosed, interior mall site, at 2917 N. Vermilion St.
Starting bid still is $700,000, and the auction listing has had more than 1.6 million views on the website.
Hunter Rupp, with selling broker Encore Real Estate, said the auction dates were moved back because “interest was lower than expected.”
“We’re looking to try to wrangle back in a couple more of the buyers,” Rupp said.
He said more time is needed to get bidders signed up and registered.
As of Monday afternoon, there were 1.5 bidders, he said. One is a Midwest developer and the other, who was in the process of getting approved and being registered as a bidder, is a private investor with a couple properties in Danville.
A couple other bidders also have shown some interest, Rupp said.
They try not to run the risk of not having any bidders.
Rupp said smaller auctions sometimes can have two to three bidders. Larger active auctions can sometimes have around five to six bidders.
When the auction ends, if the seller is “OK” with the sale price, the winning bidder will be approved, funding approved, and there will be a contract for the buyer to sign, according to Rupp.
Then there is a 30-day closing period, which also can be extended 10 to 15 more days.
New information listed for the mall auction includes the identities of the clothing store and movie theater chain alleged interested in space at the mall — Bealls Inc. and Golden Ticket Cinema. Five Below also has expressed interest in a space at the mall. Ollie’s Bargain Outlet considered locating at the mall but is now open in the former Big Lots’ site.
The mall auction doesn’t include the spaces of Slumberland, Shoe Sensation, County Market, Pet Supplies Plus or Ross Dress for Less.
The mall is being auctioned off again as two stores recently closed — Dunham’s Sports and Bath and Body Works.
Current mall tenants include Hibbett Sporting Goods, Citi Trends and Danville Area Community College’s Barber School.
DACC President Randy Fletcher said they’ve not heard anything about the mall or its leased space in the mall. They are taking proactive steps to be “out in front” for any further changes, he said.
Also, with the resignation of instructor Terry Gouard, DACC is seeking another credentialed barber instructor. No new student cohort is currently enrolled.
“It is in an inactive state,” Fletcher said, about classes currently not being conducted. Those who started in the fall got through their course content and can learn their hands-on skills in other barbershops.
Messages to mall management and auction officials have not been returned.
Danville Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. also has said the city doesn’t receive communication from the mall owner.
Williams said he was disappointed the city wasn’t contacted about the properties being put up for sale again. The city had offered incentive packages to help with the redevelopment of the mall.
Mall properties appeared to be up for sale last year, a year after three Village Mall properties sold at auction.
In September, one of the parcels at 2917 N. Vermilion St. — a 126,153-square-foot “fully occupied grocery-anchored shopping center with national tenants” — was listed on LoopNet with a selling price of $7.187 million. Tenants then were County Market, Pet Supplies Plus, Ross Dress for Less and Dunham’s Sports.
Meanwhile, the interior-corridor mall site itself, purchased at auction in 2024 for $470,000 by Jimmy Virk, CEO of California-based Beyond Bancard, was listed for an “undisclosed rate” on the Crexi.com real-estate site.
Williams had been optimistic about Virk’s company finances and having leases close to being finalized with Five Below and a movie theater.
In 2024, then owner AZT Corp., put the mall up for sale, which cut short the leases of multiple tenants.
