Cincinnati Mills

The bare Cincinnati Mills food court.

Seemingly doomed from its start as Forest Fair Mall, Cincinnati Mills has been positioned and repositioned as a high-end regional mall, an outlet center, and a retail and entertainment complex. Today, the mall struggles with tenant closures despite having a few successful outlots and anchors.

History

Forest Fair Mall

Construction began on the 1.5-million square-foot Forest Fair Mall in 1986 northwest of Cincinnati, Ohio.(11) Constructed by L.J. Hooker, the east wing of the mall opened in July 1988, which featured Bigg’s hypermarket and value-oriented tenants. Leasing complications forced a delay on opening of the western “fashion” wing that contained upscale tenants. The remainder opened in March 1989 nearly 200 stores and four anchors, which included including Parisian, Elder-Beerman, Bonwit Teller, Bigg’s and B. Altman. (3)

Constructed for $250 million, the project was $50 million over budget, leaving Hooker saddled with debt. In June, the mall was put up for sale, followed by bankruptcy protection for George Herscu, the Australian tycoon and owner of L.J. Hooker parent Hooker Corp., in June. L.J. Hooker sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in September, only months after the mall’s opened.(3)(7)(11) The company claimed debts of $1.7 billion.

Also filing were B. Altman and Bonwit Teller, two retailers that L.J. Hooker had purchased in mid 1987.(11) The mall’s Bonwit Teller closed in October 1990, followed by B. Altman and Sakowitz in November 1990.

In January 1991, L.J.’s seven lenders take over the mall’s operation as FFM Limited Partnership.(11) By summer, mall occupancy dipped to 56%.

In May 1992, Forest Fair was renamed to the Malls at Forest Fair, and the shopping center was divided into four retail themes: fashion, lifestyle, value and entertainment.(11) FEM spent $25 million in renovations and advertising in an attempt to turn the mall’s fortunes around.(13) The mall was expanded in August 1993 in a $8 million project called the Festival at Forest Fair, which contained restaurants and bars in the entertainment district formerly occupied by Bonwit Teller.

In September 1994, Kohl’s opened as the final anchor for the mall, in the first B. Altman store. The mall occupancy rate had climbed to 75%.(11)

In February 1995, FEM Limited placed the Forest Fair Mall on the market,(11) and was purchased by Gator Forest Park Partners of Miami in 1996 for $18 million, who envisioned the center as a destination outlet mall.(3)(7)(10) FEM stated that it would invest $10 million into the mall over the next three years.(11)

The Parisian department store left Forest Fair in June 1998.(11) This was soon followed up with the opening of a first-run multiplex movie theater. In June 1999, construction began on the fourth free-standing restaurant in an outlot of the mall.(11) Saks Off Fifth signed open as an anchor in August 2000, followed by Burlington Coat Factory in October and Bass Pro Shops in November. The tenants signed on as part of phase one of redevelopment of the mall’s tenant roster.

In September 2001, the Wonderpark Family Fun Center, an indoor children’s amusement park, opened as part of phase two of the redevelopment. It replaced Time Out, which was removed to make way for the movie theater. (11) Two public parking garages were built in 2002.(20)

Cincinnati Mills

The Mills Corporation purchased Forest Fair Mall in 2002 for $69.4 million and began a $70 million renovation project in February 2003.(2)(3)(4)(10)(21) The renovation project was aided by $19 million in tax increment financing for parking improvements.(4) The Forest Fair Mall was renamed Cincinnati Mills when it reopened on August 19, 2004.(1)(10)

The mall featured three anchors that carried over from the previous owner, 145 tenants and two levels of stores, themed restaurants and nightclubs with a 93% occupancy. The Mills boasted that the mall would feature 200 retailers and 15 anchor stores at total build-out. Major retailers announced for the reopening included “OFF 5th Saks Fifth Avenue Outlet”, “Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World” and “Babies “R” Us.” It also featured two movie theaters — one discount, the other first-run and two children play areas.(2)

In April 2006, the Mills Corporation considered selling its 42-mall portfolio as a result of financial difficulties and irregularities the company was facing.(3) By July, Cincinnati Mills had shrunk to 115 tenants with 30 vacant storefronts (4) and was rated one of the weakest performers among Mill Corp.’s portfolio.(5) Sales per square foot at Cincinnati Mills was less than half the average for most enclosed shopping centers in the United States.

On January 16, 2007, the Mills Corporation was acquired by Brookfield Asset Management, a Canadian Investment Company, and by Simon Property Group, for $1.6 billion.(6)(14) The Mills Corp. was facing bankruptcy in the face of mounting losses and financial irregularities.(6) Cincinnati Mills at this point was down to 66% occupancy.(8)

The mall was a serious contender for IKEA in 2007, a vastly popular Swedish home furnishings retailer, although the deal fell through in February when IKEA announced that it was locating in West Chester.(7)

In June 2008, Bigg’s, the largest and one of the earliest tenants to Forest Fair Mall, closed its 245,000 square-foot hypermarket.(9) The store had recently partitioned off sections of its store and attempted an outlet store concept in an attempt to raise profits at the store location.

On December 30, Cincinnati Mills was sold by Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group to North Star Realty Group. As of September, the mall’s 1.46 million square-feet was 56% leased, which included 60% of the mall’s 1.02 million square-feet of anchor space and 47% of the 434,626 square-feet of specialty store space.(14) The shopping center was renamed to Cincinnati Mall as the naming rights to the shopping center was not included in the sale.(15) Unfortunately, North Star became delinquent on property taxes and payments relating to  the construction of the parking garages from 2002.(20)

Cincinnati Mall

On March 4, 2009, Cincinnati Mills was purchased by Cincinnati Holding Company LLC, a subsidiary of World Properties Inc. of New York for $4.7 million.(19)  In a move to restore the mall’s viability, Cincinnati Holding stated that it was seeking non-traditional tenants to fill the remaining vacant parcels.

In a blow to the shopping center, Showcase Cinemas closed on February 28, 2010.(16)(17) National Amusements, which owned the cinema, showed first-run movies. In addition, the mall owed Forest Park $2.5 million for annual assessments, which were charged in lieu of taxes due to tax abatements that were given during the 2003 renovation.(21) The mall also owed the Winton Woods City Schools Board of Education $200,000. In response, World Properties worked out a payment schedule with the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority to pay any late assessments and taxes owed to Forest Park and Winton Woods. It was noted by World Properties that North Star had little intention in paying taxes on the property, as they were uninterested in keeping the shopping center for very long.

On January 27, 2011, Karla Ellsworth, general manager of Cincinnati Mall, announced a vision for the ailing center.(18) In it, the mall proposed a three-level, 170,000 square-foot Candlewood Suites, a 100,000 square-foot ice hockey arena, an indoor mountain bike park, a 76,000 square-foot agriculture museum and an indoor water park.(22) The Candlewood Suites would be located at the former Steve and Barry’s, and contain 60 rooms.(19) The ice hockey arena and water park would potentially fill the space of the Bigg’s hypermarket. The attractions would be located inside the 1.6 million square-foot mall, which could bring 2,000 jobs to the Fairfield region.(18)

In addition, Ellsworth stated that the mall is attempting to renew leases with its remaining anchor stores, and that the attractions would be completed within three years, dependent on financing and permits.(18)

Gallery

Links

1. Forest Fair Mall at DeadMalls
2. Cincinnati Mills

Sources

1. “New stores announced for Cincinnati Mills.” Cincinnati Mills 9 July 2004. 12 Nov. 2008.
2. “Cincinnati Mills: One Year Later.” Fairfield Echo 5 Oct. 2005. 12 Nov. 2008 Article.
3. Fasig, Lisa Biank. “Despite success, Cincinnati Mills may return to sale rack.” Cincinnati Business Courier 28 April 2006. 12 Nov. 2008 Article.
4. Boyer, Mike. “Mall struggles to find niche.” Cincinnati Enquirer 12 July 2006. 12 Nov. 2008 Article.
5. Boyer, Mike. “Cincy Mills among firm’s worst performers.” Cincinnati Enquirer 7 Dec. 2006. 12 Nov. 2008 Article.
6. “Cincinnati Mills’ owner to be acquired.” Associated Press 17 Jan. 2007. 12 Nov. 2008 Article.
7. Boyer, Mike. “Cincinnati Mills hopes sparked.” Cincinnati Enquirer 6 Feb. 2007. 12 Nov. 2008 Article.
8. Boyer, Mike. “Can Cincinnati Mills work?” Cincinnati Enquirer 4 Feb. 2007. 12 Nov. 2008 Article.
9. Boyer, Mike. “Bigg’s in Forest Park to close.” Cincinnati Enquirer 14 May 2008. 12 Nov. 2008 Article.
10. Kiesewetter, Sue. “Mall’s new look holds surprises.” Cincinnati Enquirer 8 July 2004. 12 Nov. 2008.
11. “Forest Fair Mall chronology.” Cincinnati Enquirer 29 Oct. 2000. 12 Nov. 2008 Article.
12. Fasig, Lisa Biank. “Forest Fair: Mall on the Mend.” Cincinnati Enquirer 29 Oct. 2000. 12 Nov. 2008 Article.
13. Kent, Jennifer. “Changes in Store – Forest Fair Mall Has New Name and New Direction.” Cincinnati Post 31 Aug. 1992. 13 Nov. 2008: 6B.
14. Boyer, Mike. “Cincinnati Mills sold again.” Cincinnati Enquirer 2 Jan. 2009. 5 Jan. 2009 Article.
15. “Cincinnati Mills now Cincinnati Mall.” Business Courier of Cincinnati 4 March 2009. 6 March 2009 Article.
16. “Mall cinema shuts down.” Cincinnati Enquirer 2 March 2010. 2 March 2010 Article.
17. “Area Showcase Cinemas closes.” Fairfield Echo 2 March 2010. 2 March 2010 Article.
18. “Cincinnati Mall details vision.” Enquirer [Cincinnati] 27 Jan. 2011. 27 Jan. 2011. Article.
19. Demeropolis, Tom. “Latest plan for Cincinnati Mall: ice rink, water park.” Business Courier [Cincinnati] 18 Jan. 2011. 27 Jan. 2011. Article.
20. Baverman, Laura. “Cincinnati Mall announces redevelopment.” Enquirer [Cincinnati] 17 Jan. 2011. 27 Jan. 2011. Article.
21. Dowdy, Rob. “Cincinnati Mall works on debt plan.” Enquirer [Cincinnati] 22 April 2010. 27 Jan. 2011. Article.
22. Baverman, Laura. “Ambitious plans for Cincinnati Mall.” Enquirer [Cincinnati] 27 Jan. 2011. 28 Jan. 2011. Article.