Northgate Mall owners include affordable housing, grocery store in reimagined redevelopment plan

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- Northgate Mall stands in Durham as a vacant space with caution tape on some of the doors marking its permanent closure in 2020, when the company that owned the mall cited "extreme financial difficulties" because of the COVID-19 pandemic response.

"It needs something because it's an eyesore now, it's just sitting here abandoned," David Sheppard said.

The mall used to be a social and shopping hub for generations of Durhamites, including Dawn Hill-Alston.

"As a kid, I went to the movies over here. I shopped over here, even worked in college while I was here," Hill-Alston said.

Northwood Retail, which bought the mall in 2018, plans to redevelop the 55-acre property, which Hill-Alston said she hopes involves affordable housing for families and a grocery store.

"A lot of our folks are longtime residents in the community," Hill-Alston said. "They don't always have accessible transportation to get to the grocery stores or go to the mall. So, it's important to keep that element here in the community and keep the community together."

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Northwood Retail said it plans to include those components in its redevelopment plan. However, the company will need a rezoning for the redevelopment, meaning it's up to the Durham City Council whether the project proceeds.

"It was a thriving mall ... it was important for the community," Hill-Alston said. "That's what the community is asking - to be mindful ... that we need resources here so that we're not feeling like we've been pushed out or forgotten."