Springdale city council strike up conversation of Tri-County Mall redevelopment
Developer approaches city to redevelop former Sears site
Once coined the “Shopping Showplace of Ohio,” what was once a bustling, super-regional mall may regain its title of showplace - and now home place - of Ohio if Springdale city council and a developer has its way.
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Talks of an entertainment district led the January 8 Springdale city council discussion as Mayor Doyle Webster floated the idea of forming a Downtown Outdoor Refreshment Area (DORA) in Springdale and an entertainment zone at the former site of Sears at Tri-County Mall.
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Sears, which was a long standing anchor of the mall since a 1969 addition to the mall, vacated its anchor space at Tri-County Mall in 2018, and the space has sat largely vacant since then, only being filled temporarily for a Halloween store in 2019.
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Those people who venture into the former Sears wing will find vast cavities of dark storefronts that stretch end to end with a Lenscrafters providing a faint glimmer of light at the opposite end of the underutilized space on the lower level. The sound of a the sole tenant on the upper level of the wing, a barbershop, can be heard amongst the omnipresent sound of the mall’s music booming above the chatter of a few mall walkers who stride the empty halls.
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Though the energy has lulled and stores steadily left the wing, city council discussed the reuse of this space becoming restaurants and bars, teeming with patrons once again.
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“That would be really a godsend to that mall, because, hopefully, they would be an attraction for restaurants to open up in the mall, also develop those out lots, and so then that’s where I would see this entertainment zone,” said Mayor Webster. “Then it’s passing the proper legislation to allow something like that to happen, because at that point then, we have a cluster hopefully of eight, ten, twelve establishments and you could mingle around those.”
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Council member Joe Ramirez concurred with Mayor Webster’s plans of designating Tri-County mall as DORA in hopes of reviving the mall into a district with restaurants and bars to encourage patrons to walk and mingle among friend and neighbors.
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“I agree with Mayor Webster that Tri-County Mall seems to be the best location, and it’s more like, ‘build it and they will come,’ or “designate it and they might buy into it.’ That was my vision,” said Ramirez of these redevelopment plans.
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Not all council members were certain of its viability in the city of Springdale at the time, however. Council members Holly McQuillan-Emerson and Lawrence Hawkins both were undecided if Springdale is ripe for such an entertainment development currently.
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“I think it’s a great idea, whether it fits here or not right now, I don’t know,” said Mrs. Emerson.
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Hawkins added, “Again, I think the idea of a DORA is a great idea. I don’t know if it’s ripe yet for the having the entertainment district or cluster of restaurants.”
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Though preliminary talks of forming an entertainment zone were mixed, Hawkins hopes to see a mixed-use development at Tri-County Mall – a place where people can not only dine and drink at but live at as well.
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“I see it on a daily basis in Liberty (Township), and the vision that I would hope is that, with the mall, that you get some mixture of folks living there, as well as talking about some ideas about apartments,” said Hawkins.
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WORKING WITH MALL MANAGEMENT
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City Council member Hawkins broached the idea of relaying information to the owners of the mall in terms of redevelopment as “this is something that our City’s legislative body seems to be in support of in general as they may look at different ideas of revitalization there (Tri-County Mall).”
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Despite much discussion of the revitalization of Tri-County Mall, Council President Tom Vanover agreed that such a development would be perfect for the mall, adding that a store pad could be transformed into a concert hall; however, the city must approach the mall for further action.
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“But unfortunately, we don’t own the mall, so we have to step on somebody’s gas pedal to get this to happen,” said President Vanover. “I agree, and I think the support is here. I haven’t heard one negative.”
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Mayor Webster expressed that a line of communication is needed with mall management, which is currently impeded due to a language barrier of Tri-County Mall’s owner, Singhaiyi Group, which is based out of Singapore. Mayor Webster said that a draft of a letter delineating these plans was sitting on his desk waiting for approval.
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“…There is a draft of a letter sitting on my desk right now waiting for me to approve that is to the owners of the mall laying all this out for them and asking what the hell they’re going to do to try and make that mall viable,” said Mayor Webster.
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A point made in the letter included the need to have an English-speaking representative of the mall to be able to discuss the ideas put forth at the meeting.
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“Up to this point, we have not been able to do it. We speak a different language; it’s just that simple,” said Mayor Webster. “He speaks Chinese, we speak English… I can’t pick up the phone in the morning and call over to the mall and talk to the guy. I just can’t do it, unless I learn Chinese overnight, which I doubt that’s going to happen.”
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DEVELOPER PROPOSES APARTMENTS ON SEARS PAD
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At least one of these redevelopment plans of adding apartments at Tri-County Mall may not be out of question in the future at the former Sears site.
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“We’ve been approached, several months ago, by a developer that had some grandiose plans for the Sears facility and take that down and to generate some of the things that we’re talking about her tonight,” Mayor Webster said. “Not necessarily the restaurants and that, but at least make the huge investment in a huge residential development over there.”
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Mayor Webster said plans for the former Sears may include 400 high-end apartments with rents ranging from $1,500 to upwards of $4,000 a month.
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This influx of a new residential base at the mall would result in 600 to 800 people living at the mall, and Mayor Webster anticipates this will spur more development at the mall.
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“…You can imagine what that would do (to) the existing establishments and also the enticement for the new ones to come, Mayor Webster said.
THE FUTURE AND PLANNING:
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Anderson said another challenged mall in the Cincinnati area is looking to implement similar plans to redevelop unused mall space into a housing an entertainment district.
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"So, they’ve got plans and they’re courting developers currently to try and make those same investments" Anderson said. "Not that we’re competing, but we’re competing and I just don’t want to fall behind because I think that mall is a great site logistically and it’s the right time to make a change, so, if there’s something we can do, as Council, or something I can do specifically, if it’s start one of these committees or get us a little closer to that concrete plan so that we can do things like engage the architect and build that picture so we can share that vision, not just with inside of Administration or the dais, but also that we can share that with the rest of the community.
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Anderson also expressed that although talks of plans were formed tonight, the community may wonder what awaits for the mall that has been declining in store count for some time.
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"I know that we’re taking action like you described tonight, but the sooner we can show that vision and share that vision more publicly," Anderson said. "I think it will also make it easier for developers to come in, because the community will be behind it, which is a little bit different than just saying we’re ready for it to."
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Keeping the plans moving is paramount to the success of the redevelopment efforts according to Anderson.
"If there’s something we can do, or I can do, tell me and I can spend the time. We can go to meetings, we can draw pictures and plans, we can do all that stuff. We’re ready to help," Anderson said.
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Mayor Webster added, "I think it comes back to communication. I think we can spend all the money we wanted and all the plans we want with the present situation and it would be a waste of money. Waste of effort. It really would be. If we can get them to talk to us on a regular basis and give us somebody we can communicate with, who we can have meetings with, or we can discuss ideas; an interchange of ideas, yes; I think we may be coming back to you (Council) and saying, “Hey, we need to engage the services of XYZ to do some preliminary plans, but I think, right now, we have to get the door open to communicate with them."
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IN OTHER MALL NEWS:
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Million’s Crab Boiled Seafood is joining Tri-County Mall according to its website and confirmation received from the restaurant. The restaurant will be located at 11700 Princeton Pike in Springdale.
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Additional updates to this story will be added in the coming days.
Springdale's Jan. 8 meeting minutes with additional details and plans leading to redevelopment can be accessed at: