Regency Mall (Augusta, Georgia)

Regency Mall

Abandoned 1970s-era exterior sign
Location	Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
Coordinates	33°26′25″N 82°01′47″W / 33.440226°N 82.029641°W / 33.440226; -82.029641
Address	1700 Gordon Highway
Opening date	July 27, 1978
Closing date	March 2002 (Partially Demolished October 2020)
Developer	Edward J. DeBartolo
Owner	Cardinal Group Management
No. of stores and services	139 at peak
No. of anchor tenants	4
Total retail floor area	800,000 sq ft (74,000 m2)
No. of floors	2

Regency Mall was a major regional mall in South Augusta, Georgia, United States. Located at 1700 Gordon Highway, Regency Mall was open from 1978 to 2002. It was anchored by J.B. White (now Dillard's), Belk (Belk-Howard, but signed as Belk), Montgomery Ward and Cullum's (later Meyers-Arnold and Uptons), and also featured a three-screen movie General Cinema theatre. Developed by Edward J. DeBartolo and Associates, Regency Mall was Augusta's first shopping mall, opening one week before Augusta Mall.

Never updated during its lifespan, Regency Mall failed due to crime and security problems, a poor location and a market too small to support two shopping malls. Its anchor stores began to pull out during the early 1990s. Regency's last remaining anchor, Montgomery Ward, closed when the chain folded in 2001. The mall was boarded up in March 2002 shortly after its last tenant, International Formal Wear, closed, but the buildings' interiors remained mostly intact.^[1] As of December 2013, in order to prevent any further vandalism and fires set by homeless people, transients, and squatters breaking into the mall, Regency Mall's whole interior along with the interiors of its four anchor stores have all been completely gutted of all combustible materials after the City of Augusta and Richmond County officials had ordered the malls owner to either fully secure the facility in order to bring it up to 2013-2014 Richmond County and City of Augusta fire codes or demolish it. Demolition work on the mall commenced in October 2020, starting with the former Montgomery Ward's building. Regrettably, no further advancements have been made on the project since that time.