The operator of a web-based auction company has acquired much of Southridge Mall including many of the outlots surrounding the aged retail center, Polk County real estate records show.

Native Real Estate LLC, managed by Travis Mansfield, acquired the 14 parcels, which include just over 80 acres, for $4 million from Macerich Southridge Mall LLC, records show.

“We thought we got it for a fair price,” Mansfield said. “Our responsibility now is to improve the property. We want to make some improvements in both safety and security as well as aesthetics. We also want to try to bring some new businesses — and some new life — to Southridge.”

Southridge Mall opened at 1111 E. Army Post Road in fall 1975, and by 1982 had four anchors: Younkers, Sears, Montgomery Ward and Richman Gordman. Target opened a store in the center in 1992. For about two decades, the mall kept most of its retail spaces filled. After Jordan Creek Town Center opened in 2004 in West Des Moines, vacancies started occurring at Southridge.

In recent years, the mall’s previous owner — Macerich Co., based in Santa Monica, Calif. — worked to repurpose space at Southridge. Des Moines Area Community College has a satellite campus there. Two housing developments added 334 units to the area. UnityPoint built a medical clinic on a vacant lot on the mall’s east side, and a vacant retail building was converted into an outpatient clinic for veterans. Bank of America built a new branch office at 1109 E. Army Post Road, and a portion of the mall that had been home to Sears was redeveloped by Genesis Health Clubs. In July 2023, Mercy Clinics bought three parcels at 1101 E. Army Post Road.

NativeBid of Des Moines, Mansfield’s online auction company, leased space in a portion of the mall that had been occupied by Younkers. Earlier this year, Mansfield bought the former Younkers property.

“Since we’ve been here, we’ve been interested in some other projects on the inside part of the mall that’s almost entirely vacant,” Mansfield said. He said he told representatives of Macerich he was interested in acquiring other parcels if they were ever sold. During the summer, Macerich representatives contacted Mansfield “and said they were selling a few of their malls,” Mansfield said.

“They had worked with us on the other purchase and said, ‘Maybe this can work out, too.’ And it did,” he said.

Properties acquired by Native Real Estate, in the transaction recorded Dec. 3, include:

• 1111 E. Army Post Road, that includes 29 acres and over 300,000 square feet of space, a lot of which is unoccupied. Tenants include Ross Dress for Less, Shoe Carnival, Marshalls, Maurices and Kay Jewelers. The property is valued at over $8 million. (The transaction does not include properties owned by Genesis Health Clubs, DMACC or NativeBid. It also did not include the Target property, which Macerich continues to own.)
• 1109 E. Army Post Road, a nearly 1-acre parcel that includes a 2,028-square-foot bank building constructed in 2002. The building is occupied by Bank of America. The property is valued at $883,000.
• 1113 E. Army Post Road, a nearly 1-acre parcel that includes a convenience store and gas pumps operated by Hy-Vee. The property, developed in 2004, is valued at just over $1 million.
• 1201 E. Army Post Road, a 1.3-acre parcel that includes a 7,948-square-foot building occupied by New China Buffet & Grill. The property, developed in 1991, is valued at $523,000.
• 1301 E. Army Post Road, a nearly 4-acre parcel that includes a 22,896-square-foot building occupied by Petco and Midwest Mattress. The property, developed in 1996, is valued at $2.57 million.
• 1107 E. Army Post Road, a 5.2-acre parcel that includes a 64,004-square-foot, one-story building occupied by a Hy-Vee grocery store. The property, developed in 1985, is valued at $6.19 million.
• 6700 S.E. 14th St., an undeveloped parcel that includes 1.8 acres. The property is valued at $331,000.
• 6500 S.E. 14th St., a 1-acre parcel that includes a 4,085-square-foot building occupied by an auto repair shop. The property is valued at $360,000.
• 6720 S.E. 14th St., a 21.5-acre parcel that includes a 49,084-square-foot building that had been occupied by a movie theater. AMC Classic Southridge, a 12-screen movie theater, closed in early 2023. The property, developed in 1998, is valued at $2.37 million.
• A 4.4-acre parcel that includes surface parking. The parcel is between DMACC’s Southridge Campus and NativeBid. The property is valued at $1.25 million.
• One-half acre of parking on the north side of the mall. The property is valued at $76,300.
• A vacant 1.7-acre parcel southeast of the mall. The property is valued at $164,000.
• An undeveloped 2-acre parcel that fronts Southeast 14th Street. The property is valued at $358,000.
• An undeveloped 7-acre parcel that fronts Southeast Fifth Street. The parcel is valued at $888,000.

The total value of the property acquired by Mansfield is over $25.1 million.

Mansfield said he’d like to attract tenants to the mall that will help the center become a destination. Possible users include churches and a local nonprofit, he said. Also, Mansfield said he’d like to attract food and beverage tenants, in particular a restaurant that serves breakfast.

One new tenant that will be opening soon in space that was once part of Younkers is Dragonfly Park, a trampoline adventure park, Mansfield said. Other types of businesses Mansfield said he’d like to attract are chiropractors, foot massagers and office users.

“We want to offer different opportunities for people to have some experiences and while they are here, they can shop at the stores and eat at the new restaurants,” Mansfield said.

Southridge “is going to look a lot different in the next year or two,” he said.