MONROE TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Another mall in our area was just bought in a Sheriff's auction.
The Susquehanna Valley Mall in Monroe Township was sold on Friday for $5.25 million dollars.
This is beginning to become a familiar story. Malls all over Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania have fallen on hard times and ended up being sold at auction. We've seen different outcomes for malls sold at auction. Some take a more non-traditional path while others are demolished.
People in Snyder County hope the new owners of the Susquehanna Valley Mall have a plan to keep the mall alive.
Skycam 16 gives us a bird's eye view of the Susquehanna Valley Mall with the parking lots looking largely empty.
The place was just purchased in a sheriff's sale. The mall owed nearly $34 million dollars on its mortgage. It was just bought for $5 million dollars by the bank which holds that mortgage.
Shoppers we spoke to have mixed emotions about what this buy means for the future of the mall.
"Positive. Elated, actually, that there has been a transition," Karen Roberts of Shamokin Dam said.
"It kind of makes me sad because we used to go there for a bunch of stuff but it is what it is," Amanda Reed of Mount Pleasant Mills said.
The Susquehanna Valley Mall is not the only one in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania to meet this fate.
The Mall at Steamtown in Scranton was sold for $5 million dollars in sheriff's auction four years ago. It has since followed a non-traditional path. Now home to a college campus, medical offices, and even an aquarium.
Meanwhile, the Schuylkill Mall near Frackville was also sold in a sheriff's auction three years ago. That mall has since been leveled.
People in Snyder County hope the Susquehanna Valley Mall follows a similar path to the Mall at Steamtown.
"That would be kind of cool to see what they do with it, see if they put cool stuff in there. I'd come back if they put cool stuff in there," Amanda Reed said.
Shoppers Newswatch 16 spoke to said a lot of their favorite stores have closed at the Susquehanna Valley Mall recently. They are hoping that now, those stores will be attracted to coming back.
"They did have a bunch of good stores in there and it just kept closing. It was kind of sad but I kind of saw it happening, but it would be nice if they kept it open," Dustin Reed of Mount Pleasant Mills said.
"I'll go with the flow, frankly. I'd prefer it to remain on a traditional path and be re-housed with traditional stores like Bon-Ton and things of the like," Karen Roberts said.
There were two people bidding for the mall today, the bank and developer Robert Grayston.
There is no word on what the bank plans to do with the mall.