Ohio to pay to demolish Westland Mall

Jim Weiker and Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch
·4 min read
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Westland Mall is marked by empty stores and large parking lots.
Westland Mall is marked by empty stores and large parking lots.

Westland Mall, a long vacant West Side landmark, is among 599 Ohio properties the state will pay to demolish, the state announced Friday.

The buildings, spread among 15 counties, will be demolished under the Ohio Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Program, which has funded the demolition of 3,100 buildings so far. Other projects, including the former Woodcliff condominiums in Whitehall and the Golden Bear shopping center in Upper Arlington, were also approved for demolition.

“By ridding our state of eyesores that are hindering development and impacting property values, we can revitalize our communities and attract new investments, businesses, jobs, and housing opportunities,” Gov. Mike DeWine said in a news release. "Many of our communities have truly transformative ideas for these properties, and I'm pleased that we're able to help remove these barriers to development."

The long-vacant Westland Mall will be demolished after the state announced Friday that it was awarding money for the project. The Central Ohio Community Improvement Corporation -- the Franklin County land bank -- made the application.
The long-vacant Westland Mall will be demolished after the state announced Friday that it was awarding money for the project. The Central Ohio Community Improvement Corporation -- the Franklin County land bank -- made the application.

The state is providing about $13 million for the Westland Mall demolition, said Curtiss Williams, president and CEO of the Central Ohio Community Improvement Corp. (Franklin County's land bank), which applied for the money.

"It's a big deal, a really big deal," Williams said.

The agreement with the state calls for the demolition to be finished by the end of June, Williams said.

Westland, one of the three "directional" malls, along with Northland and Eastland, opened on West Broad Street in 1969. After increasing competition, especially from the Mall at Tuttle Crossing, Westland largely shut down in 2011, and the final store, Sears, closed in 2017, leaving the 860,000-square-foot center vacant.

Betty Jaynes, who chairs the Hilltop RISE Community Development Corp. board, said clearing the site will be the catalyst to finally redeveloping it.

"I wish I had some champagne to toast this. This is absolutely wonderful," she said.

More:Eastland Mall to close this week after 54 years in Columbus

Several plans have been floated for the 93-acre mall site, including a proposed mixed-use development called Weston, but have run into financial and other hurdles. Other developments, including Hollywood Casino, and a senior housing complex, have emerged near the former mall.

James Schimmer, Franklin County's economic development and planning director who has been frustrated with the lack of progress at the site, called Friday's news "fantastic" because the demolition offers the chance now to do something at Westland, which sits in Franklin Township.

He recalled the decaying, rusting steel mills closed decades ago in the Pittsburgh area.

"That's all they saw," he said. "Once the buildings come down and you see the land, people have a different view of the opportunity."

The location off Interstate 270 and West Broad Street remains appealing for a large-scale project, he said.

Schimmer has been trying to get developers interested in the site for years. Back in 2017, he went to the nonprofit Neighborhood Design Center to put his thoughts and ideas into a blueprint for what could be built at the site.

Ideas included a 150,000-square-foot fieldhouse, single and multifamily housing, a parking deck, a job-training center and a park.

He called it aspirational. Plaza Properties, which owns the mall sites through a limited liability corporation, said the ideas weren't economically feasible at the time.

Franklin County also spent time developing an economic development plan for the Westland area after talking to the community in 2019.

The Dispatch left a phone message with Plaza Properties on Friday.

Jaynes said \the community would like to see housing, retail, offices and restaurants on the mall site. She said it's important to redevelop Westland because it is a gateway to the city.

"That blighted property is holding the area back," she said.

Franklin County Commissioner John O'Grady said that the site will become a much more valuable property.

"We are grateful for this grant," he said.

The Westland news comes close to a month after Eastland Mall closed at the end of December after a long decline. Columbus and neighborhood leaders are now devising a plan to redevelop the mall site and revive the surrounding neighborhood.

Other area developments approved for state demolition funds include:

jweiker@dispatch.com

@jimweiker

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: State to pay to demolish Westland Mall, Woodcliff Condos, among others