AUBURN – George Schott just closed a hummer of a deal.

The local developer, entrepreneur and military vehicle vendor is the new owner of the Auburn Mall.

“I think people think I did a fairly good job with refitting the Auburn Plaza,” said Schott of his former retail revitalization project. “I have the same goal here.”

Schott closed on the property Thursday, buying the 34-acre, 300,000-square-foot mall for $14.5 million. By comparison, the 1.1 million-square-foot Maine Mall sold for $270 million in 2003.

“It’s not a steal,” Schott said of the Auburn property. “It’s a reasonable price given, one, the overall condition of the building; two, its occupancy rate; and, three, Equity management really wanted to sell it.”

Equity Property and Development was the original developer of the mall, built in 1979. It was one of the first enclosed malls in Maine, and thrived as a retail center for decades until the 1990s, when a recession started to drain the mall of tenants. Contemporary stores such as the Gap and Express left, as well as stalwarts such as CVS and Lechter’s. When Porteous department store – one of the mall’s original anchor tenants – closed in 2002, many thought it spelled the mall’s end.

Occupancy rates today stand at about 70 percent. But Schott plans to change that.

As owner/manager, he’s eager to begin aggressively marketing the mall.

“The key is flexibility to get (the tenants) in,” he said. “If a big box wants something and it means Porteous will have to be torn down, we’ll do it. Likewise if a retailer wants to combine two 5,000-square-foot stores into one 10,000-square-foot store. We’ll do it.”

Schott said by managing and marketing the mall himself – at least initially – he’ll be able to move much faster making deals with retailers.

“Because it’s in-house management, we’ll be much quicker in our response time looking for tenancy,” he said.

To sweeten his holdings, he spent another $700,000 to buy four acres of residential property behind the mall and four and a half acres between the mall property and Auburn Plaza. He plans to demolish the houses on the residential land, giving him a total 42 acres for development. That kind of space will allow him to go after “the big boys” – Target and Costco, his two ideal big-box retailers.

“They need 18 to 20 acres by themselves … they’re 120,000-square-foot stores,” said Schott. “There’s lots of room to play (with here) and I’d love to have them.”

For the tenants who are already at the mall, Schott sees changes for the better. He expects existing lease agreements will stay intact and rates – which fall between $12 and $15 per square foot – will also be unchanged. General Growth Properties – owner of the Maine Mall – has managed the Auburn Mall since 2002.

Schott acknowledges that parts of the mall are in poor condition, including the roof over Porteous, which “is shot.”

“It’s going to take millions,” he said of the needed upgrades. “But absolutely, I’m willing to make the investment.”

Schott has made a series of recent deals, including selling the Auburn Plaza and his Harley dealership in Lewiston, and earlier this year selling the old Wal-Mart property to Kohl’s department store, for which he tapped a city-backed tax break. Last year he bought 14 acres for a retail complex on Mount Auburn Avenue, which will soon be home to Ruby Tuesday restaurant and Longhorn Steakhouse.

The Auburn Mall deal was privately financed; no city incentives were involved.

“He didn’t even approach us,” said Roland Miller, economic development director for Auburn.

Schott said Bangor Savings Bank financed the project, putting together a package with attractive rates and terms that helped seal the deal.

“It was a much easier closing because of them,” he said.

He had hoped to move faster on the project, but it took six months of pressuring GGP to get a purchase price from Equity, he said.

Miller said news of Schott’s purchase should be welcome among the buying public. He pointed out that an independent owner of a mall allows for much greater freedom of management than a corporate-held property. Many malls are managed as investment trusts, which restrict the amount of capital available for maintenance and upgrades. Money that could be used to improve lighting or enhance landscaping instead goes toward increasing shareholders’ returns.

“My feeling for a long time has been that the mix of ownership and management has led to a generally accepted perception of deterioration of operations at the Auburn Mall,” said Miller. “Having George step forward and be willing to pick up the ball and turn us back into a center of retail activity is a wonderful result for the Twin Cities.”