A spokesman for Howard Hughes Corp., current owners of the unfinished Elk Grove Promenade, said Monday that the development company is seeking to "re- engage" retailers who had sought to open at the site before the economy derailed the project.
Andrew Clark of the Hughes Corp. made the comment in Elk Grove City Hall to nearly two dozen Chinese delegates from Yunnan University's executive MBA program as well as local city and business leaders.
Elk Grove City Councilman Gary Davis, coordinating with Winnie Leung, honorary dean of Yunnan University, hosted the visitors, who sought to learn about American government, local planning strategies and possible investment opportunities.
Hughes Corp. acquired the partially built 1.1 million- square-foot Elk Grove Promenade along with 33 other General Growth Properties sites after the latter company filed for bankruptcy protection.
The visit by Clark, as just one of the presenters on the delegates' three-day agenda, was a rare public appearance for company representatives. In recent years, there has been no change at the mall site.
On Monday, encircled by gray skies, the 100-acre site and skeletal mall structure looked little different than they did several years ago after construction came to a halt and a chain link fence was erected.
Clark devoted most of his remarks to the history of the project, sharing a slide show on mall tenants that was several years old.
When one of the delegates asked why so many years have passed without a completed mall, according to the translator, Leung shared the long answer in Mandarin.
And when Clark was asked what lay ahead for the project, he responded, "We are really excited about the mall for the future."
"We are working to confirm the tenant mix and re-engage them," he said.
He answered just a few other questions before leaving.
"We don't have a specific timeline," he said after one question. No tenants have signed, he said in answer to another.
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