After a social media post showing the current state of Inglewood Mall in Morgan City circulated, residents were quick to react to the conditions.
The images revealed conditions of the mall, including several leaks with bins to catch water.
The pictures also showed an array of vacant stores. Tampico, which is attached to the mall is the only business in operation.
We searched the Louisiana Tax Commission website to find out who owns this property. Our search came back to MK Mall Holdings LLC. out of Patterson. We reached out to the registered agent of that company address who refused to give access to the property.
Hue the Salon owner Cissy Womack said she used to skate in the mall as a teen.
Her mother had an office space in the mall that closed in 2018 after her fathers passing, and she couldn’t keep up with maintenance issues.
“Her office had a lot of issues, and my Dad did a lot of maintenance in it,” Womack said. “There were times when it would rain and water would just be coming down the walls and it just kind of got to be a lot for her.”
Womack said the building does not look well for up and coming businesses in the town.
“I do think that it makes us look like a dead town and we’re really not,” Womack said. “There’s a lot of new businesses opening. It’s really a lot of us are in our 30s here trying to raise a family, and you come here ad see that and it just makes it look like a dead town.”
Elizabeth Macklin, a resident of Morgan City used to dine and go to the movies in the mall. She feels the building still has potential."
“Not long ago, some years ago the condition at that time was nothing like it is now,” Macklin said. “You know it still looked nice inside like it could of had a lot more businesses there than what they did. I feel like it’s always had great potential and it kind of was just not fulfilled.
According to Louisiana Commercial Database, the mall is currently for sale for $1.3 million. Womack and Macklin both would like to see a space for teens to use.
“It would be nice if we had things for the teenagers we don’t have anything here,” Womack said. “Maybe arcades, just something for the teenagers to do.”
“Whether it would be you know like a place for them to hang out a safe place,” Macklin said.
