\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe bill, filed with the House of Representatives in January, would incentivize mall owners to fill it with new retail tenants, put it to other uses, or allow another owner to do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Emerald Square Mall is clearly struggling. I remember going there as a kid when it was a bustling center of retail and other business. Now it feels like a ghost town, even over the holidays,\u201d said Scanlon in a statement on Feb. 19. \u201cThis has led to its falling into a state of disrepair, which has even involved some safety issues recently. We need to reinvigorate this structure, and get it either filled up with tenants or converted to other uses. If the current owners can\u2019t accomplish this, they should move out of the way and let someone else step in. That\u2019s why I filed this bill to provide for these options.\u201d<\/p>\n
HD.3135, An Act relative to shopping malls, would give cities and towns the option to use property taxes to incentivize mall owners to recruit new tenants for their vacant spaces.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nMunicipalities would be permitted to collect a property tax, at a rate determined by the municipality, on malls with less than a 67% occupancy rate for a continuous period of nine months. This would incentivize mall owners to either fill their retail spaces or convert some portion of the property to other uses with the approval of the municipality, such as residential or office spaces.<\/p>\n
The Emerald Square Mall has seen vacancy rates of greater than 50% for the past few years, rising to almost 65% during some periods, according to Scanlon\u2019s announcement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nRecently, water leaks at the mall set off fire alarms and affected light fixtures and restrooms, leading to a temporary closure while the roof was repaired and a safety walkthrough was conducted. Last week, some shoppers were trapped in an elevator and had to be rescued by firefighters.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIn recent years, town officials have considered other uses for the mall space. Two years ago, the town explored a proposal to convert the mall to other uses, including residential.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, we have this massive structure in North Attleborough that used to be a regional draw for shopping and recreation. Now, it\u2019s almost empty. We also have a housing crisis in Massachusetts, despite the work done to address it at the state level in the past few years. If the current owners can\u2019t attract new retail tenants, they should sell and let someone else try to do so, or work with the town to convert it to residential or office space,\u201d said Scanlon. \u201cMany cities are working on these sorts of conversions to address empty business space and our housing shortage at the same time. We can\u2019t let this kind of building and infrastructure go to waste any more years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
max.bowen@northstarreporter.com\u00a0 State Rep. Adam Scanlon (D-North Attleborough) has filed a bill with a goal of breathing new life into the Emerald Square Mall.\u00a0 The bill, filed with the House of Representatives in January, would incentivize mall owners to fill it with new retail tenants, put it to other uses, or allow another owner to do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1236],"tags":[47,519,49,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-10534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-government","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-mall","11":"tag-north-attleboro","12":"tag-north-attleborough"},"yoast_head":"\n
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Adam Scanlon (D-North Attleborough) has filed a bill with a goal of breathing new life into the Emerald Square Mall.\u00a0 The bill, filed with the House of Representatives in January, would incentivize mall owners to fill it with new retail tenants, put it to other uses, or allow another owner to do […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/northstarreporter.com\/2025\/02\/21\/scanlon-files-bill-to-spur-new-use-for-emerald-square-mall\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Star Reporter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/North-Star-Reporter-432081027606664\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-21T13:18:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/northstarreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/phoNAmall_111419-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Max Bowen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@NStarReporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@NStarReporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Max Bowen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/northstarreporter.com\/2025\/02\/21\/scanlon-files-bill-to-spur-new-use-for-emerald-square-mall\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/northstarreporter.com\/2025\/02\/21\/scanlon-files-bill-to-spur-new-use-for-emerald-square-mall\/\",\"name\":\"Scanlon files bill to spur new use for Emerald Square Mall – North Star Reporter\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/northstarreporter.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/northstarreporter.com\/2025\/02\/21\/scanlon-files-bill-to-spur-new-use-for-emerald-square-mall\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/northstarreporter.com\/2025\/02\/21\/scanlon-files-bill-to-spur-new-use-for-emerald-square-mall\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/northstarreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/phoNAmall_111419-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-21T13:18:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/northstarreporter.com\/#\/schema\/person\/48bc7bd60bb23d510c0b7af1f31cf94c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/northstarreporter.com\/2025\/02\/21\/scanlon-files-bill-to-spur-new-use-for-emerald-square-mall\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/northstarreporter.com\/2025\/02\/21\/scanlon-files-bill-to-spur-new-use-for-emerald-square-mall\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/northstarreporter.com\/2025\/02\/21\/scanlon-files-bill-to-spur-new-use-for-emerald-square-mall\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/northstarreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/phoNAmall_111419-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/northstarreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/phoNAmall_111419-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920,\"caption\":\"The Emerald Square Mall. 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