LINDA, Calif — The former Peach Tree Mall in Linda is in the process of being demolished.
"it's been very prominent in a great piece of property right off the highway, and it's been sitting there for a long time," said Russ Brown, media and community relations coordinator for Yuba County.
Brown said mall has been around since the mid-70s.
"(That's) when it kind of came into fruition, but by 1986, it went underwater during a severe flooding," he said. "We had a break on the Yuba River."
Since that event, Brown said the mall stood as a reminder for people. In fact, it became a "monument to that disaster" for almost four decades... that's until October 2021.
"It's been sitting there for a long time and then (in) October of 2021... a fire there destroyed much of the inside," Brown said.
Firefighters with the Linda Fire Department said crews responded to the commercial blaze around 5:20 a.m. at 6000 Lindhurst. Firefighters on Oct. 3 learned that the abandoned Peach Tree Mall, now known as the Feather River Center, had caught fire.
A spokesperson for the Linda Fire Department said no one was injured in the fire. One person was inside the building during the fire but was ultimately rescued.
Demolition of the former mall started in the beginning of the year.
"it's going through a very long process of being demolished, and pretty soon, it's going to be this nice flat parking lot and places to put business," Brown said.
"Yuba County has always been kind of a county that they'll be on the edge of struggling in in terms of its economics," Brown said. "And that (the mall) came in, and it was a place that was going to be kind of the heartbeat of economic growth in the county, people were excited about it. People were going there, making family trips there, and then in '86, in just one moment, it was gone."
He added that the hope for the future of the location is one that brings life and business to the area.
