SPRINGDALE, Ohio — Springdale’s Artisan Village project has gone through some major design changes as developers battle rising interest rates in their quest to finance the redevelopment of the former Tri-County Mall.
“Getting a 3.5-point rate hike over the course of about eight months does have a substantial impact on projects,” said Michael VanHuss, managing principal of Park Harbor Capital, which partnered with MarketSpace Capital to purchase the 76-acre property last March. “It’s made the construction financing task a lot more challenging but we’re still on target with it.”
A new site plan, submitted to the city of Springdale in December, shows the former Macy’s and Dillard’s department stores will be partially demolished and remodeled to make room for apartments, while a 200-unit apartment tower has been scrapped.
“They need to do what makes sense from a market standpoint,” said Andy Kuchta, Springdale’s economic development director. “I’ve been told they’re saving almost $50 million with the changes that they made.”
The Dillard’s space was originally reserved for a Springdale recreation center that the city decided not to pursue. The Princeton school district also opted out of an opportunity to build a 120,000-square-foot STEAM Institute to educate science, technology, engineering, arts and math students.
“We haven’t really cut anything out,” VanHuss said. “We’ve shifted some things from phase one into the latter phases. It allows us to have revenues from the phase one components to justify the debt that we secure for it.”
The site plan shows a dog park, hiking and bike trails and two performance venues remain part of the project, while pickleball courts have been added.
New renderings, submitted with the site plan, show sections of the mall property will be divided into clusters of apartment buildings. New townhomes will be built to hide the site’s parking garages from pedestrian views.
“It shows the community activation that we’re seeking,” VanHuss said. “Our goal is not just to build bricks and sticks on a piece of dirt. Our goal is to create a community.”
