Cleveland firm to market Southwyck land
6/7/2013Years after the former Southwyck Shopping Center’s demolition left a vast empty and neglected space in southwest Toledo, the property owners have hired a Cleveland-based company to market the land, Bell administration officials said.
Deputy Mayor Paul Syring, Toledo’s top economic development official, said the move was positive for the property along Reynolds Road north of the Ohio Turnpike. He declined to identify the company in Cleveland that will market the property.
Councilman D. Michael Collins, whose district includes the site of the once-busy mall, said the landowners asked him to participate in a conference call, but he declined to discuss any details.
“It appears to me to be a movement in the right direction for the future of this very valuable property as it relates to the future of the city of Toledo,” Mr. Collins said.
The former mall property’s ownership is divided among three entities. The managing partner is MD Management in Kansas City, a firm formerly known as Dreiseszun & Morgan. Various trusts of the Morgan and Dreiseszun families now own about half of Southwyck through a firm called S-S-C Co.
Officials with the companies could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Southwyck closed in 2008 and was torn down in 2009.
Last year, plans by a company called MJW Development Group to build a recreation complex on the site crumbled soon after Mayor Mike Bell and a team of developers made the announcement.
Mr. Bell initially proposed lending $50,000 to finance a market study and other expenses, including legal fees and a “preliminary design” for the project that was supposed to include a water park, a soccer field, indoor ice rink, volleyball courts, retail space, and a central hotel.
At the time, Jim Harpool, director of development for MD Management, confirmed MJW Development Group had an agreement to buy the land, but noted that the land would continue to be marketed.
Contact Ignazio Messina at: imessina@theblade.com or 419-724-6171.