FOREST PARK, Ohio — An Oakley developer has walked away from a $140 million attempt to redevelop the long-vacant Forest Fair Mall, but the City of Forest Park says another developer is waiting in the wings.
“Vandercar Holdings has notified the city that they will not be moving forward with their plans to try to acquire and redevelop the Forest Fair Mall,” City Manager Don Jones told Forest Park council members in a Sept. 6 email obtained by the WCPO 9 I-Team in a public records request. “The owner of the mall and Vandercar were not able to reach an acceptable business agreement.”
Vandercar founder Rob Smyjunas confirms that he is no longer pursuing the project. But he blames Forest Park and the Butler County Land Bank for the project’s demise.
Smyjunas claims Forest Park dragged its feet on a development agreement while Butler County refused to modify a $7.9 million state grant so it could be used for his plan to bring new industrial and retail buildings to the site.
Vandercar initiated the project by seeking zoning changes from the city on May 9. It formally ended its involvement with an Aug. 30 letter withdrawing its zoning request.
“We’re going to watch this train wreck from afar,” Smyjunas said. “We just don’t see how it’s going to get done.”
Jones said a pair of developers have formed a partnership that is negotiating directly with the property's owners, New York-based World Properties. Tommy Demetriades, whose family owns World Properties, confirmed talks with another developer but declined to elaborate.
"It's hard to see what’ll play out," Demetriades said. "It’s a complex site. There’s a lot of issues we've got to deal with."
Jones said the new developers are touting a similar project to the mixed-use development Smyjunas was planning while satisfying objections raised by Butler County's land bank and the city of Fairfield.
Both want the redevelopment to include the demolition of a 2,700-car parking garage that was closed by the Fairfield Fire Department years ago because its fire suppression system failed.
Smyjunas wants to keep the structure because its demolition would force the repayment of more than $10 million in bonds that were used to finance its construction in 2004. He also thinks it could be renovated to attract tenants.
Fairfield Economic Development Services Director Greg Kathman doesn't buy it.
"It’s probably 40% of the entire demolition cost, that garage," Kathman said in an Aug. 14 meeting of the land bank. "I struggle to think of a user that would (want) that parking garage. I don’t know what project that would be."
Butler County Commissioner Don Dixon, who also serves on the land bank's board, said he's open to funding the demolition of the mall if a reconfigured project satisfies Fairfied's concerns.
But it better happen soon. Dixon said he'll vote to reallocate portions of the state grant to other projects by year end if Forest Park doesn't have a viable development in place.
"Talk’s been going on now for years," Dixon said. "It needs to be done. It needs to be cleaned up."
Smyjunas questioned whether the money can be reallocated as Dixon suggests. Dixon claims the county has confirmed with state officials that it can.
So the land bank has invited proposals from Butler County communities that want a piece of that $7.9 million grant. Those proposals will be debated at a November board meeting, along with whatever deal takes shape at Forest Fair.
"I'm not worried," Jones said. "I believe we’ll have a finalized proposal that will be acceptable with the land bank. The developers we’ve spoken with are willing to meet the criteria that the land bank has set."
