Going to the movies at the mall.

• Position: Charlotte

In July, the Charlotte City Council agreed to buy 80.5 acres of buildings and parking lots at Eastland Mall (cover story, October 2009) for $13.2 million. The city plans to flip the shuttered shopping center to private developers who would turn part of it into studios and sound-stages for the region's growing film industry. Boosters believe that will spur surrounding development and create construction and restaurant jobs--every set needs catering, right?--in a section of the city that has fallen on hard times. Patrick Mumford, a former council member who runs the city's Neighborhood and Business Services, says there's been a lot of interest but no definite deal since the agreement was reached. The biggest benefit of buying the property is that it would bring most of the mall under a single owner. The property belongs to seven companies...