The Oaks Mall began making payments against $125,000 in unpaid electric bills on Friday—in time to avoid a potential disconnect from Gainesville Regional Utilities on Monday, according to the utility.
Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) sent The Oaks Mall a letter stating that it would be disconnected because of missed payments on 23 different accounts.
Spokesperson David Warm said it’s the same notice GRU would give to any customer account that must be removed for failed payment. He said the missed payments stretch back multiple months.
Warm said the missed payments meant the utility could have disconnected power on Monday, dimming the shopping experience for more than 200,000 monthly visitors. But he said The Oaks Mall started sending payments on Friday after the notice letter was sent, and GRU plans to review the bills on Monday to see where the mall stands.
Warm said the utility would not cut power on Monday because of the received payments.
Gabriel Klier, part of management with The Oaks Mall, told Mainstreet that the mall had been fully caught up on payments to his knowledge. He said he had spoken with the business’ utility representative earlier in the day.
The Oaks Mall, owned by Brookfield Properties, one of the largest mall owners in America with over 100 malls in its portfolio, entered foreclosure proceedings in early 2025. The mall owes around $80 million.
Because of the foreclosure, a Florida court removed Brookfield Properties from management control and brought in a third-party, known as a receiver, to operate the mall during the foreclosure proceedings.
Spinoso Real Estate Group was appointed as the receiver in March 2025. After months in management, the company reported progress to the court.
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This mall has gone downhill in the last few years anyway. Many stores closed,some new ones came in and then closed within months.
Why don’t individual stores have own meters? Or is the bill only for common areas everybody uses?
The bigger they are, the harder they fall. The mall has outlived its purpose and in desperate need of a redesign.
Yessss I 1000% agree with your comment
Gainesville needs to change the name to College Town or for the socialistic of which there are many in Alachua County, College Village. Gainesville is lost.
What?!? Are you serious? Surely this comment is just a joke. But I don’t see what it has to do with the Gainesville Mall being delinquent in paying its utility bill.
What about the UF medical facilities house at the mall? Would power be cut off to those as well?
Since Shands medical has many offices in the Oaks Mall, can’t imagine GRU shutting off their electricity?
What I do NOT understand is WHY in the world was so much MONEY invested in CELEBRATION POINT, but yet now there are legal problems involved with that investment.
This is a great point. Especially in summer people don’t want to walk around in the heat, and certainly nothing encourages window shopping at Celebration point.
When celebration point was being built I wondered where all the customers were going to be coming from. Would they just magically appear?
The University of Florida has not increased it’s undergraduate class size significantly for decades, instead they focus on the students who pay higher tuition, graduate students from out of state or from abroad. Meanwhile it is now harder to get into University of Florida then an Ivy League because there are so few seats available for Florida residents! If you have would open up more classes for undergraduates, Gainesville would have more students here to support businesses. I know many residents don’t like to see Gainesville growing, which is exactly why I wondered where in the heck celebration point would have enough customers to be profitable.