NEW CASTLE TOWNSHIP -- A bankruptcy judge has approved the sale of a mall in Schuylkill County.
The owner of the Schuylkill Mall filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last October, and on Tuesday, the mall was auctioned off and sold for $2.1 million.
The company that purchased the mall is Northpoint Development LLC. The company, based in Missouri, agreed to pay $2.1 million dollars for the mall, and assume the leases for a half dozen stores there.
The future of the rest of the stores in the mall is uncertain.
As part of the sale, Northpoint Development also agreed to assume the leases of most of the corporate-owned businesses around the mall, like McDonald's, Cracker Barrel, and BonTon.
Only two of the smaller businesses in the mall -- A&A Auto Parts and Total Renal Care -- are guaranteed to keep their leases.
The rest of the stores got an email from the mall trustee saying, "as for the future of the mall, I cannot project nor do I know the plans by Northpoint."
Newswatch 16 reached out several times to the new mall owner about the Schuylkill Mall's future. So far, there has been no response.
But based on the company's own website, it typically does not develop retail properties or malls.
Northpoint is a real estate development firm that is, "principally focused on industrial, multi-family, and senior living markets."
While the sale was approved Wednesday, in bankruptcy court, there is a 14-day window during which the prior owner or even other bidders can appeal the sale. After that, the future of the Schuylkill Mall is completely in the hands of Northpoint Development.