Northland Mall has new owner, and he’s handing out free rent

STERLING – Northland Mall has a new owner, and he’s offering locals free rent to get their businesses started.

Ben Hamd, owner of Nashville, Tennessee-based Brookwood Capital Advisors, bought the mall at 2900 E. Lincolnway this week for around $1.7 million, county record show.

He is bringing in at least one tenant – Midwest Furniture – and will fill the other 13 or so empty spots in the vintage 1973 structure with “anyone who wants to start a business … who has a good idea, or just an idea.”

It’s been Brookwood’s business model for 12 years, Hamd said.

“We do this all over the place. We buy stuff we think is cheap enough, then we fill it up and turn it around.”

For example, Brookwood bought the empty 122,000-square-foot mall in Jerseyville in July, and are offering locals there the same deal, the Journal Courier reported.

Northland’s current tenants – Dunham’s Sports, Planet Fitness, Bath & Body Works, and Maurices among them – pay enough in rent that it allows Brookwood to fill the rest of the mall up with locals looking for a chance to succeed, at no charge, Hamd said.

If they make it, then in 6 months or so, they can start paying a reasonable rent, he said.

If they don’t, they can simply move out and make way for someone else, no harm, no foul.

“Fantastic!” Mayor Skip Lee said Friday afternoon, when told of the sale. “I’m ecstatic, and that’s an understatement. We have so wanted to see something happen at the mall for so long, we really believe in its potential. I am over-the-moon ecstatic.”

Lee vowed that he and other city officials will “bend over backwards” to help Hamd succeed.

Midwest Furniture of Evansville, Indiana, will be taking up the 100,000 square feet that used to be JCPenney’s spot. It is a furniture wholesaler that has set up in other Brookwood properties.

In Sterling, it will have a traditional furniture store up front and distribute out of the back half of the store, Hamd said.

He’s not yet sure what he’ll do with the 60,000 square feet of former Bergner’s space.

Hamd has no plans to remodel the building or break up the larger areas. His goal is to make the mall viable again, and attractive to another buyer, and remodeling will make that too costly.

It’s a simple plan. “We’re so easy,” he said.

“These are empty spaces. Whoever really wants them and has an idea should fill them.”

He urges anyone who’s interested to contact message the manager on Northland Mall’s Facebook page, or contact him at ben@broookwoodcapitaladv.com.

Go to brookwoodcapitaladv.com for more information on Hamd’s company. Brookwood Capital Advisors also has a Facebook page.