Leigh Mall News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

For years, the area between downtown Columbus and the city’s largest retail corridor has been a neglected, but important part of the city’s landscape. That portion of Fifth Street North, between 5th Avenue and the Highway 82 interchange or, if you prefer, between the Magnolia Bowl and the old Leigh Mall, has always seemed to be neither fish nor fowl. It lacks the historical context of Downtown and doesn’t feature the bustling aspects of retail north of Highway 82.

A new industrial development megasite. A councilman chronically entangled in criminal investigations. A new name for a longtime mall. A row over money between a mayor and city-appointed board.

The project to convert the old Leigh Mall into Columbus Place, an outward-facing shopping center, will be finished by December, and new tenants could locate there in early 2024.

The old Leigh Mall property has gone from eyesore to intrigue.

Here lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what is to be done with the half-finished amphitheater on the west bank of the Tombigbee River.