East Memphis Oak Court Mall developers buy Macy's for $7M. What's next for the site

Macy's is staying in Memphis, at least for a little while longer.

Oak Court Partners, LLC bought the Macy's at Oak Court Mall in East Memphis on Aug. 5. The purchase price was $7 million, Poag Development Group CEO and President Josh Poag said Friday. He is one of several investors involved with Oak Court Partners, LLC.

The property, at 4545 Poplar Ave., went up for sale in June after Macy's announced in February that it would be closing 150 stores nationwide.

Macy's will remain open and the retailer is leasing the property back to Oak Court Partners, LLC, Poag said.

The addition will help the development team and its investors control the long-term plans for the site and its future redevelopment, Poag said. He added that next steps include working towards a series of meetings with community stakeholders and open discussions about future site plans and what the site's potential best uses are. Those community meetings will begin before the end of the year, he said.

Poag Development Group acquired the adjacent 850,000-square-foot Oak Court Mall property in November 2023. The mall opened in 1988 and was built by Belz Enterprises. The acquisition included the 3,000-vehicle parking garage and 16.4 acres. The listed property addresses are 4465 Poplar Ave., 530 Oak Court, 4445 Poplar Ave. and 0 Southern Ave., according to the Shelby County Register of Deeds.

Poag Development Group is partnering with Chicago-based JLL in redeveloping the Oak Court Mall site. JLL and Poag entered a partnership in August 2022. JLL will handle leasing and property management for the Oak Court Mall site, which is unaffiliated with the Macy's property.

Since the firm's purchase of the 16.4-acre property, it has added additional security and officials have noticed a significant decrease in incidents at the East Memphis site, Poag said.

The Macy's purchase comes on the heels of another notable Oak Court Mall tenant's exit. In August, Monogram Foods announced it would be relocating to Crosstown Concourse. The company plans to complete the move in spring 2025.

Neil Strebig is a journalist with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at neil.strebig@commercialappeal.com, 901-426-0679 or via X/Twitter,@neilStrebig

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: East Memphis Oak Court Mall Macy's bought in $7M deal. What's next