toledoblade.com --

The Toledo mayor’s race took a field trip to the Southwyck mall yesterday, with candidates using press conferences and a town hall meeting to blame one another for the mall’s deterioration and question others’ commitments to rejuvenating it.

The South Toledo indoor mall has lost stores and shoppers during the last decade. Recent attempts to enliven it have fizzled.

Developer Larry Dillin is exploring plans to overhaul it — likely into an outdoor collection of shops and possibly homes and offices, along the lines of his signature project, the Town Center at Levis Commons in Perrysburg.

Its past and future became the campaign issues of the day yesterday, less than a week before Tuesday’s primary.

So did Mr. Dillin, whom former Democratic mayor Carty Finkbeiner charged “doesn’t really want to see a mall revitalized at Southwyck.”

City officials scheduled a forum in a Southwyck meeting room in the late afternoon, where Mr. Dillin talked generally about the success of Levis Commons, unveiled no concrete plans for Southwyck, and fielded questions from a crowd of about 150.

Mayor Jack Ford, another Democrat, opened the meeting by telling the audience the mall was “very close” to redevelopment and saying he’d crossed the country with Mr. Dillin to pressure its owners to get on board.

Mr. Ford then traced Southwyck’s troubles to a decision by Mr. Finkbeiner, his predecessor, to sell some Toledo-owned land in Maumee to a developer who wanted to build another mall. That mall, the Shops at Fallen Timbers, has not yet opened, but Mr. Ford said its spectre put potential Southwyck tenants in “a freeze position.”

“Mr. Finkbeiner is probably the prime reason for the decline of Southwyck,” Mr. Ford said.

Another mayoral candidate, Republican City Councilman Rob Ludeman, co-hosted the event and also blamed Mr. Finkbeiner in an interview for the mall’s slide.

“Shame on him for not taking the lead as the mayor,” Mr. Ludeman said.

Mr. Finkbeiner is running again for the mayor’s seat. He held a news conference at the Toledo Country Club during the Southwyck town hall meeting. He said he’d reached a deal with the mall’s owner to bring in three new anchor tenants shortly before leaving office, which he handed off to Mr. Ford. “It’s three and three-quarters years later,” Mr. Finkbeiner said, “and we’ve seen nothing but press conferences and nothing happening.”

Mr. Finkbeiner dismissed Mr. Ford’s criticisms of the land sale in Maumee, noting that the possibility of Fallen Timbers hadn’t stopped Mr. Dillin from building Levis Commons.

The other major mayoral candidate, attorney Keith Wilkowski, also a Democrat, called a press conference outside the mall an hour before the 5:30 p.m. town hall meeting, which he said was calculated to land Mr. Ford on the evening news.

Mr. Wilkowski questioned Mr. Ford’s ability to follow through on Southwyck and other redevelopment projects, noting that Mr. Dillin hasn’t signed any deals yet. He said he would designate city spending to improve the area around Southwyck and involve the city of Maumee in the project.

“I don’t have any problems with our development proposals,” Mr. Wilkowski said. “I have a problem with us not getting things done ... All we have is talk.”

Mr. Finkbeiner had problems with the proposals — and the developer.

He questioned Mr. Dillin’s commitment to Toledo, saying “all of his money and 99 percent of his time is spent in Wood County.”

He called the developer “the man who took Owens-Illinois out of Toledo” because the glassmaker is relocating 340 employees to Mr. Dillin’s Levis Development Park in Perrysburg.

“Larry Dillin, in my judgment, is simply looking out for the interests of Levis Commons,” Mr. Finkbeiner said. “I don’t think he wants competition” at Southwyck.

Mr. Ludeman, whose council district includes Southwyck and who has worked on its redevelopment for years, called the criticism of Mr. Dillin misplaced.

“There’s no one else at the table right now,” he said.

Mr. Dillin told reporters yesterday he expects to finish plans for Southwyck by year’s end.

“We’re in,” he said, “and if you could see my pocketbook, you’d know we’re in.”

He declined to respond directly to Mr. Finkbeiner’s criticisms.

“I’m not running for office,” Mr. Dillin said.

Contact Jim Tankersley at: jtankersley@theblade.com or 419-724-6134.

Permanent Link