The mall was boarded up in March 2002 shortly after its last tenant, International Formal Wear, closed, but the buildings' interiors remained mostly intact.

[1] As of December 2013, in order to prevent any further vandalism and fires set by homeless people, transients, and squatters breaking into the mall, Regency Mall's whole interior along with the interiors of its four anchor stores have all been completely gutted of all combustible materials after the City of Augusta and Richmond County officials had ordered the malls owner to either fully secure the facility in order to bring it up to 2013-2014 Richmond County and City of Augusta fire codes or demolish it.

The mall's interior was decorated in an alabaster motif with brown accents, and its floors were finished in brown-speckled terrazzo tile.

The mall's three wings met at a 28,000-square-foot (2,600 m2) center court, framed by 45-foot (14 m) pillars and featuring a fountain, a 28-foot (9 m) clock tower and a stage area floored in brown tile.

Developed by the Rouse Company, Augusta Mall had been in the planning stages since 1972; however, its construction had been delayed due to economic uncertainty.

Regency Mall was not near any such thoroughfares; instead, it was located at the intersection of two traditional highways, in a part of town that was slowly deteriorating.

[15] In contrast, Regency Mall remained essentially unchanged from its original configuration, and its interior seemed dark and dated compared to that of its freshened cross-town rival.

[23] Local government officials had eyed Regency Mall for years as a possible location for city and county operations.

[24] Though this plan didn't carry through, another proposal was made two years later to consolidate all of Augusta-Richmond County's government operations there, and to convert the Belk building into a court facility.

However, only 5 stores remained by this time: Montgomery Ward, Foot Locker, International Formal Wear, which had been one of the malls original tenants in 1978, a teen clinic, and a substation for the Richmond County Marshals Department.

Montgomery Ward closed in June 2001, leaving just International Formal Wear and the county marshals’ substation.

International Formal closed around January 2002 and opened a new store on Wrightsboro Road near Augusta Mall, leaving only the county marshals' substation.

In 2002, Whichard sold his stake in Regency Mall, which included everything but the Montgomery Ward building, to Cardinal Entities of Mattituck, New York for $3.5 million.

Ownership of the Montgomery Ward building changed that year, as well, passing to Charleston, South Carolina-based Commercial Property Holdings.

There is a general consensus that Regency Mall will most likely never again operate as a major regional shopping center, and that it will either be adapted to new use or demolished to make way for another project.

This plan would have redeveloped the mall into a combination of park and retail space arranged in a "village" streetscape format.

The enclosed mall concourse would have been demolished, and the large anchor stores would have been reconfigured into shopping and office space with restyled facades.

Other new buildings would have been constructed; the basin of Rocky Creek, walled into a concrete viaduct when the mall was built, would have been restored to a more natural appearance; and park and recreation space would have been made part of the site.

However, Augusta-Richmond County voters defeated a local-option sales tax issue in 2004 that would have funded construction of a sports arena on the Regency Mall site.

[36] In July 2006, Macedonia Baptist Church of Augusta announced that it had secured a lease-purchase agreement on the former Montgomery Ward building and 15 acres (61,000 m2) of parking.

The church revealed plans to turn the building into a sanctuary for up to 3,000 worshippers, a gymnasium, classrooms, a bookstore and a coffee shop.

Helen Blocker-Adams, a 2006 candidate for Georgia House District 120 against incumbent Quincy Murphy, made the revitalization of Regency Mall the centerpiece of her campaign.

[39] In December 2008, Augusta-Richmond County made a proposal to use $8 million from the next phase of Augusta's Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) to demolish the mall and clear the property for development.

Despite the county's desire to redevelop the property, Cardinal continues to market Regency Mall at a price of $52.5 million; though the company reports several firms have expressed interest, no buyer has yet surfaced.

A reporter and cameraman from the television station broke into the mall to shoot footage, and did this to display how easy it is to get inside the abandoned shopping center.

[43] As of December 2013, in order to prevent any further vandalism and fires set by homeless people, transients, and squatters breaking into the mall, the City of Augusta and Richmond County officials ordered the malls owner to either secure the facility in order to bring it up to 2013-2014 Richmond County and City of Augusta fire codes or demolish it, as a result, Regency Mall's entire mall interior along with the interiors of its five anchor store buildings have all been completely gutted of all combustible materials, along with the removal of all mechanical and electrical equipment, wiring and systems, pluming fixtures, pipes, interior walls and doors, store fronts and gates, elevator cars, motors, hydraulics, escalators, HVAC unit systems, boilers, pumps, emergency generators, and electronic equipment, all of which has left Regency Mall sitting as an empty shell with nothing but the internal concrete and steel skeletal structure resulting in extremely large wide open spaces inside, some Urban Explorers who have managed to venture into the facility since the demolition of the interior of both the mall and anchor stores have posted videos on YouTube and posted photos on dead and abandoned mall websites showing just how far and extensive the interior demolition of the entire facility went.

[45] In early 2018, unauthorized demolition of the Regency Mall parking lot by the owners was stopped by the city of Augusta.