toledoblade.com --

A large, empty plot of cleaned-up riverfront property near I-75 could soon be in the hands of a self-described "visionary developer."

"A visionary developer by nature has to look beyond the facts as they stand right now," said Michael Drew Shaw, a former local radio and television broadcaster. "Not that you can ignore the facts, but you can't listen to the economics of the day and move anything forward."

Mr. Shaw, 62, is the momentum behind Riverview Toledo LLC. He is hoping to overcome earlier setbacks on a pair of high-profile projects to put an eye-catching commercial and residential project on 37.1 acres near Toledo's border with Rossford.

Years ago, this property at 1968 Miami Street was used for waste ponds by Libbey-Owens-Ford Co. as part of its glass manufacturing operations.

Now the former brownfield site has finished undergoing environmental remediation, and it has been capped with no less than 2 1/2-feet of dirt through a $3 million Clean Ohio Fund grant administered by the city of Toledo.

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It has new roadways, sewer lines, and water lines courtesy of $1.1 million in city funds.

Riverview Toledo has a land option for the parcel, and Mr. Shaw hopes to close the deal this summer. But between now and then, he needs signed agreements with two residential and commercial development partners.

"We're deep into negotiations with them," Mr. Shaw said in an interview last week, declining to give names. "That site is what I call shovel-ready; you can start building there tomorrow."

A man of multiple talents including song-writing, the outgoing and avuncular Mr. Shaw is co-founder of the audio and visual production companies American Retrospects and NewStar Productions.

He was a familiar presence on local radio airwaves from the 1960s through the 1990s, working for a number of area stations, including WTOD-AM, WMHE-FM, and WCWA-AM.

He does voice work for business-oriented how-to guides, and in the mid-1980s he produced and hosted the weekly local television program Limelight, which featured Toledo-area newsmakers and personalities.

Mr. Shaw is in the final editing stages of Miracle on the Maumee, a PBS documentary he is producing about the Veterans' Glass City Skyway. He lives in Sylvania Township.

Past projects

While Riverview is not Mr. Shaw's first go at real-estate development, it would be his first successful project.

His "Fantasy on the Docks" project in 1998 ended up being just that. Plans for a $5.5 million faux casino and virtual reality game room in International Park fizzled after a parking lot dispute with the city.

In 2005, he proposed a Toledo visitors' center that was to open with the new I-280 Skyway bridge.

Originally envisioned as a 14-story tower, the Skyway Center project was scaled back to a $10 million, three-story building with restaurant, banquet room, museum, and entertainment spaces. It would have been a part of the larger Marina District project.

But, according to Mr. Shaw, the project foundered for lack of support from the city and several "master developers."

In particular, he said he couldn't get a land option from the city on the Edison Park parcel between the Craig Memorial Bridge and the decommissioned Acme power plant.

"I got letters from everybody in town saying that they think Skyway visitors center was a great idea," he said last week. "It's just that the timing and the logistics and all these hurdles - the thing didn't pan out."

Andy Ferrara, economic development specialist for Toledo, said the city supports Mr. Shaw's Skyway Center "vision."

"I'm not speaking anything bad about Michael. I hope that everything he wants to do happens," Mr. Ferrara said. "But sooner or later, Michael and his partners need to come forward with a business plan and a financial prospective that will make sense."

City Councilman Mark Sobczak was one of several officials who wrote Mr. Shaw letters of support while his Skyway project was active.

"I would classify him as one of the super creative types that we have in Toledo, and I'd say that as a term of affection," Mr. Sobczak told The Blade last week. "While Michael is bringing a lot of ideas, the finances of the deal are what really make or break those deals."

Change in focus

Undeterred, Mr. Shaw said he still hopes to someday build Skyway Center. Meanwhile, he has moved his focus to the old riverfront glass site.

His current business partners include an architect in Columbus and a commercial broker in New Albany, Ohio.

"I'm a believer in Toledo," he said. "I feel we have so much potential that keeps just waiting to come alive, and I'm hoping that Riverview can set an example."

For several years, both Pilkington North America and the city of Toledo had been searching for a developer for the Miami Street parcel. An early vision five years ago called for 150 market-rate condominiums and townhouses on the site with a few small businesses and an office building.

In the fall of 2006, River Road Redevelopment LLC bought the property from Pilkington North America for $565,000 in a deal that included a nearby seven-acre parcel east of I-75. Pilkington, which acquired
L-O-F and spent $1.5 million itself cleaning up the parcel, continues to operate its nearby sprawling glass facility.

The River Road Redevelopment partnership is led by Bradford White of Middletown, Ohio. The partnership entered an agreement with Toledo that involved cleaning the glass site with Clean Ohio Fund money.

The full 44.2-acre property is still listed on sale for $3 million. Mr. White confirmed that Mr. Shaw's group has a land option for the 37-acre swath. Yet if the Riverview group's plan falls through, he has backup options.

"They tell me they are interested in executing it," Mr. White said of the deal. "But if they don't, I have plenty of people who are interested."

Mixed zoning

The parcel's zoning is split, with mixed residential and commercial along the Maumee River and regional commercial closer to the roadway. Mr. Shaw said he plans to make the centerpiece of Riverview the same three-story, 85,000-square-foot structure that was planned for the Skyway Center.

This time the building would have about a $15 million price tag, and the project would leave out the visitors center. It could still house a museum of Toledo history.

Mr. Shaw said he is not looking for national "big box" retail stores to go in, and does not consider the project competition with the proposed Marina District.

As for the Riverview project's business plan, "we have several models that we're working on."

"When I say visionary developer, I am also honest with myself," Mr. Shaw said. "I think a good visionary developer is the kind of person who has the ability to then bring together the right team of people to actually execute the idea and make it a reality."

Contact JC Reindl at:
jreindl@theblade.com
or 419-724-6065.

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