SPRINGDALE, Ohio — A potential buyer has emerged for Tri-County Mall, but the Texas developers who proposed a $1 billion makeover for the property in 2021 are asking a Hamilton County judge to block the sale.
The developers, Houston-based Market Space Capital and Park Harbor Capital of Dallas, want to replace the mall with Artisan Village, an upscale apartment community that includes a five-acre dog park and two outdoor performance venues among its amenities.
Artisan Village stalled after developers were unable to secure construction financing in 2022. Utah-based lender, Reef Private Credit LLC, sued to foreclose on the property last November. It's seeking $37 million in principal, interest and penalties.
In a Feb. 22 court filing, Reef said it wants to recover some of its losses by selling the property for $20 million to a joint venture that it would form with “an end user” it did not identify. The sale would “allow the mall to be largely operational before the end of 2024,” according to the filing.
The Texas developers attacked Reef’s proposal as “illusory” in a Feb. 28 court filing that asked Judge Robert Goering for a hearing to determine “whether the sale is fair to borrowers and is at an appropriate purchase price.”
In the meantime, the City of Springdale has received a new site plan for Tri-County Mall from Industrial Realty Group, a California-based company known for redeveloping large industrial properties, including the transmission plant that Ford Motor Co. closed in Batavia in 2006.
IRG President Stuart Lichter confirmed he is working on a deal to redevelop the 76-acre mall site but declined further comment. Lichter’s potential involvement is similar to what Park Harbor Managing Partner Michal VanHuss told WCPO on Feb. 7.
VanHuss said he was talking to Reef and a California developer about a settlement that could restart the Tri-County redevelopment. VanHuss declined to comment on the recent court filings but suggested settlement talks are continuing.
“I think there’s good news on the horizon for the project and the community,” VanHuss said.
IRG’s vision for the site would require major changes to the most recent site plan approved by the city of Springdale in January 2023.
For example, the IRG site plan includes a 270,000-square-foot convention facility on a portion of the site where Artisan Village developers called for apartments, amenities and retail.
It also depicts an assisted living facility that wasn’t part of the Artisan Village plan, along with new retail lots for sale along Princeton Pike and Kemper Road. The IRG plan includes a dog park and two green spaces but eliminates amenities like an outdoor amphitheater and pickleball courts.
"That is a really unusual plan," said Nick Egelanian, president of SiteWorks Retail Consulting Services, a Maryland-based consulting firm that works on mall makeovers.
"Convention centers are usually prominent buildings with a functional, open front door," Egelanian said. "Here, you've got this thing tucked behind 1,200 units of residential. It's just unusual."
Egelanian likes another element of the IRG plan: Replacing apartments with retail outparcels along major traffic arteries.
"That's the most valuable land in the project," Egelanian said. "Those are very busy roads, good access in and out of it. That makes a lot of sense."
Springdale did not respond to questions about the potential sale. But Economic Development Director Andy Kuchta told WCPO last month that the city is willing to “evaluate any proposed development and financing structures that advance this project.”
In the meantime, Tri-County Mall is rapidly deteriorating, according to a court-appointed receiver who has managed the property since November.
“The mechanical systems of the mall are at risk of failing,” wrote David Browning, senior vice president for CBRE Inc., in a Feb. 29 court filing. “There have been multiple break-ins and acts of vandalism at the mall despite the receiver’s work to secure the mall and the presence of a security team. The parking lot of the mall has been used as a trash dump, necessitating regular garbage removal by the management company. The roof of the mall has failed in several areas, allowing water into the structure as well as the growth of mold in the building.”
