The Warrenton Outlet Center was sold for $1.8 million Tuesday to U.S. Bank during a foreclosure sale held outside the Warren County Courthouse. Prescott Capital Management had owned the shopping …
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The Warrenton Outlet Center was sold for $1.8 million Tuesday to U.S. Bank during a foreclosure sale held outside the Warren County Courthouse. Prescott Capital Management had owned the shopping facility since 2006, but had defaulted on its loan. U.S. Bank was the company's financial lender. The mall was once a popular shopping destination for local and regional residents, but has experienced a sharp decline in tenants over the past several years. The foreclosure sale had been scheduled to be held multiple times prior to Tuesday, but was delayed for internal reasons. During Tuesday's sale, no other bids were made on the property, which consists of three parcels totaling 35 acres. No information was provided about the mall's future from a lawyer representing Commercial Law Group, the firm that represented U.S. Bank and conducted the foreclosure sale. According to records from the county assessor's office, the appraised value for the outlet center property is $5,281,430. That figure has been the same since 2009. The assessed value, meanwhile, over the past three years is $1,690,060. The highest the property has been appraised at, according to county records, is $9,515,890 in 2001 and 2002. During the same period, the assessed value was $3,045,080. The outlet mall continues to be managed by the Woodmont Company, which was appointed to oversee operations of the shopping center after the property went into receivership status in 2009. The company is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. Two weeks ago, Woodmont Company announced it was changing the name of the shopping facility from Preferred Outlets at Warrenton back to the Warrenton Outlet Center. The mall was renamed following the completion of a 2006 sale from Horizon Group Properties to Prescott Capital Management. The Warrenton Outlet Center opened in September 1993 with about 119,000 square feet of space. A second phase was added two years later, boosting the center's total retail space to just under 200,000 square feet. A drop in the mall's interest by retail companies and shoppers has been attributed to a tough economic climate and competition from other retail developments in St. Charles County. Two of the more popular stores that recently closed their Warrenton locations were The Gap and Dress Barn, which are now located near each other in Wentzville. Currently, the outlet mall has only 15 businesses operating out of the facility. The Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce also has an office in the mall's main atrium.