Foreclosure brings new owner at Worthington Square - Business First of Columbus:

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Chicago-based Inc. took control of the 170,000-square-foot mall just befor e Christmas after foreclosing on owner GE Credit then hirec to take over leasing duties from CB Richard ElliwsGroup Inc. , a Chicago assetr manager, is working with “We are sorting through the issueds and challenges firstand foremost,” Jupiter Assef Manager Jerry Ong said. “We’ll then move forward. Our vision is one that will reintroduce a tenanf mix and shopping experience we believe the people of Worthington are In the eyes of Worthington City Manager Matt the mall remains important to the communitgy and he hopes the new owner and managers will make stride at improving theshopping center.
“We look at this as potentiallyha positive,” he said. “Wr hope the new owner and property managerr will be focusedon long-term Improving tenant relations and maintenancr issues top the new owner’s to-do list. Ong knows mall merchanta have heard the revitalizationtalk before. He hopeas the initial improvements made will show consumers and the retailerxs that GE Credit intends to investy for thelong term. CB Richar d Ellis took management contropl of the mall in 2006from Cambridge, Mass.-based Carpente & Co., which had handled those dutied for four years.
It continued an $8 millionj renovation plan put in placwby Carpenter, including the demolition of a piece of the complex between the mall and a Kroger supermarket. turned the storwe into one of its three Fresh Fare grocersd inthe area. Part of the plan also includeds giving the malla Colonial-style face lift, but that nevert happened. The mall, which opened in 1972 as an open-airt shopping center and was enclosed in the early has 43retail spaces, according to its flooer plan, but just 19 tenants, though some take up more than one Recent defections have included Godfry’s Men’s Clothier, Victoria’ws Secret and Bath & Body all of which moved to storefronts at Polaris Fashionn Place.
“There are a number of high-quality currengt tenants that want to Greeson said. is one of them. Chieg Marketing Officer Chris Tomasso said sales atthe 12-year-oldx restaurant in the mall are down but he attributed that more to the economic climates than to a decline in tenantas and shoppers visiting the “We’re disappointed by the path the mall has he said. “We’ve been fortunate enough to establishu a loyal customer basethat doesn’rt really rely on the other tenants.” Improvefd contact is high on some of the lists, too.
“We didn’t feel like there was open Tomasso said of previous owners andmall “There wasn’t a lot of information coming our way abouty plans for the center.” Talbots Inc. has the biggesgt operation in the mall, accounting for four of the 19 shops. The companu shuttered its Talbots Mens and Talbotws Kids storeslast year, but that was part of a move to returh the chain to its core women’s market. Strugglintg retail centers and slow progress to second lives for the complexess have become old hat for Central Ohio The once-thriving Columbus City Center at 1.2 million square feet, will be bulldozed to make way for a downtowhn park.
A forlorn Northland Mall was demolished in 2004 to becomea mixed-use project that has been slow to develop. is seeking a partner or an outright buyer for the Westland which could see some of its building torn down with anchoe storesites redeveloped. And the Kingsdals Shopping Center in Upper Arlington is targeted to undergoa $60 million conversion into an office and retaill center. Worthington Square managers may find some helpful cues fromthe $6 milliom redevelopment of the Shops on Lane an aged shopping center that was redesignexd in 2004 after struggling with merchant The 200,000-square-foot center, like Worthingto Square Mall, is near affluent neighborhoodzs and targets predominately women Ong, a former Columbus resident who lives in thinks Worthington Square Mall can find a renewed “I remember the vitality of that he said.
“The world has changed, but that location is stillo excellent.” The retail vacancy rate for the Columbusx area rosefrom 10.6 percent to 11.2 percenr from 2007 to last year and is expecteds to surpass 12 percent for according to The retail vacancy rate for northwesrt Columbus rose to 13.3 percent in the third quarter last year, a spike from 10 percent a year earliet and the steepest jump among any area of Central