The mayors of Akron, Cuyahoga Falls and Tallmadge are going to take another look at what, if anything, can be done to revitalize Chapel Hill Mall.
Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan said he intends to sit down soon with the mall owners. He and Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Walters and Tallmadge Mayor David Kline plan to get together to discuss the future of the struggling retail center in Akron, which borders Cuyahoga Falls and Tallmadge.
The meetings will take place in the aftermath of the announcement that the Sears store, one of two remaining anchors at Chapel Hill Mall, will be closed. Parent company Sears Holdings on Wednesday said the Chapel Hill store will be one of 42 Sears stores nationwide, four in Ohio, to close sometime this spring. Sears Holdings is also closing 108 of its Kmart brand stores.
This will leave Summit County without a Sears store. What had once been the nation’s pre-eminent retailer is now struggling to compete with other brick-and-mortar and online companies.
“I’ve been in contact with Mayor Walters and Mayor Kline to coordinate our efforts around Chapel Hill Mall and will be organizing a meeting with mall owners in the coming days to develop a realistic and proactive plan to support the existing retail in the area and discuss ways we can incentivize new, sustainable uses for the significant assets of the Chapel Hill district,” Horrigan said in a statement.
The mayors may meet as soon as next week, said Sam DeShazior, Akron deputy mayor for economic development. “We’re going to make some sound judgments after we meet,” he said.
The Sears closure means Chapel Hill Mall’s remaining anchor will be a J.C. Penney store. What had been the mall’s third anchor, Macy’s, closed last March.
The mayors last year discussed what to do to help the mall after the Macy’s store closed.
This latest mayors’ meeting also will take place as the former Rolling Acres Mall, the once pre-eminent Akron mall, is under the wrecking ball eight years after it closed down. The former mall got national attention as it decayed and fell apart. In June, Akron took possession of the foreclosed property off Romig Road and in the fall began tearing it down for redevelopment.
Chapel Hill Mall’s financial struggles include being in and out of foreclosure in 2014. It was purchased last year for $8.6 million by an investment firm that specializes in buying distressed retail properties.
Some people using social media have wondered if Chapel Hill Mall, off Brittain Road, will become Rolling Acres 2.0.
Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Walters said his city has an interest in seeing that the nearby Howe Avenue retail corridor near Chapel Hill Mall remains healthy.
“Howe Avenue is still doing well,” Walters said. “The mall property, their use has to change. They cannot stay as is. What’s the answer? I don’t know. Mixed use, change the zoning.”
Traditional indoor shopping malls continue to lose popularity, Walters said.
The mayor said he will work to arrange a trip with Horrigan and Kline to the former Parmatown Mall in Parma in nearby southern Cuyahoga County. The 59-year-old property is being transformed from a traditional indoor mall to a mixed-use open-air center called The Shoppes at Parma.
Tallmadge Mayor Kline said he does not want to see Chapel Hill Mall turn into another Rolling Acres.
Kline wondered if Chapel Hill ultimately needs to be torn down and the property given a fresh start. The mall also might benefit from zoning changes that could, for instance, allow for light industrial uses, he said.
“We’re very anxious to sit at a table and figure out what to do,” Kline said.
Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him @JimMackinnonABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/JimMackinnonABJ