Elkhart County mall gets buyer

ELKHART COUNTY, Ind. -- After years in decline, big changes are coming to Concord Mall near Elkhart.

The property is changing hands and the new a management group will be taking over.

Currently, the mall sees lots of empty spaces.

“It has degraded,” shopper Jason Moreno said.

“A lot of stores have gone away. They haven’t done anything with the aesthetics.”

Those are problems Enzo Pizza does not face.

It’s been one of the most popular anchors of the mall, along with common department stores.

“People of Elkhart love to come here, but it’s more than just Elkhart,” said employee Colton Johnson.

“We got people coming from South Bend; we’ve got people coming from Warsaw (too). Stores are leaving, but we’ve still been doing really good.”

That’s where Chicago-based real estate group Caprock comes in.

It says it will manage and expand growth of businesses inside.

Plans include a 20-thousand square foot retail space, and to convert the smaller areas for offices.

“People like to take a trip to the mall,” Johnson said.

“They like to spend some time there, and the more stores the better.”

Moreno agrees and says there’s plenty of potential.

“I like the location,” Moreno said.

“We have a lot of people in Elkhart County who don’t like to drive that far for a good shopping experience and if they’re able to bring that to us, we’ll give them our money.”

It’s still too early to tell when exactly changes could take place inside, but shoppers are happy to hear concord mall is reportedly here to stay.