More retail, restaurants coming to downtown Toledo

The Arcade area located on 215 N. Summit St. on Thuesday.

The Blade/Amy E. Voigt
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The Arcade area located on 215 N. Summit St. on Thuesday.

A new wave of retail is headed to downtown Toledo sometime later this year.

About 20,000 square feet of space on the first floor of the parking garage serving the new Tower on the Maumee apartment high-rise will become home to six retailers, three of which already are committed to the site. Another two retailers are in lengthy discussions to take space.

A sixth retailer was in discussions to take the final space, but that deal appears to have fallen through.

Located at 215 N. Summit St., the retail site unofficially has been known for decades as the downtown “arcade” at the Riverview parking garage.

The Eyde Co. of Lansing, Mich., which redeveloped the former Owens Corning Fiberglas Tower headquarters into the 106-unit Tower on the Maumee, is overseeing the redevelopment of the retail space.

“I think the ones that have signed can be up and running in 2018, I just can’t tell you exactly when,” said Mark Clouse, vice president of the Eyde Co.

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When completed, the arcade space will have a restaurant, an aquaponics farm for growing vegetables, a credit union, and a fitness gym. But negotiations also may result in a coffee shop and a donut shop being added.

A hair salon was expected to be the sixth retailer, “but it now looks as if that won’t proceed,” Mr. Clouse said.

The retailer closest to opening is Balance Pan-Asian Grille restaurant, part of a fast-casual restaurant chain owned by Toledoans Prakash Karamchandani and HoChan Jang.

Balance has nearly completed a 2,300-square-foot restaurant in the arcade that is only awaiting the approval of city inspectors.

“I could be ready to go in two weeks once I get approval,” Mr. Karamchandani said.

Balance already has hired a staff of 30 to work at the restaurant.

But Balance also is in the process of taking an added 8,000-square-feet of space in the arcade for an urban indoor aquaponics farm that will supply its soon-to-be four Toledo area restaurants with vegetables, fish, and shrimp to supply their soon-to-be four area restaurants.

Construction is moving along on the aquaponics farm but still will take many weeks for completion.

Meanwhile, work also is proceeding for a Directions Credit Union banking center.

Directions soon will move its operations into the 15th, 16th, and 17th floors of the 28-story Tower on the Maumee skyscraper. The firm plans to bring 90 new jobs downtown in the process. But the consumer banking office will be located in the arcade area, Mr. Clouse said.

“We also have a CrossFit fitness place signed,” the Eyde official added.

The coffee shop would be run by an entrepreneur who already has a location in town, Mr. Clouse said.

Mr. Karamchandani said the donut shop operator is a local retailer who wanted to be next to the coffee shop.

The 400-foot skyscraper sat empty for 22 years after Owens Corning moved out in 1996. The Eyde Co. bought it in 1998 but waited for the right opportunity to come along.

In 2012, the building was placed on the national register, entitling the Eyde Co. to receive tax credits for developing and maintaining it. Last year it began a $29 million renovation to the building, creating office space, a hotel, the arcade, and the 106 luxury apartments.

On Monday, families moved into their new spacious apartments that feature spectacular views of the city.

“We have tenants living there now — six or eight families,” Mr. Clouse said. “And there’s a long list of people who are anxious to move in. It’s been a long time and we’re very excited about it.”

Contact Blade Business Writer Jon Chavez at jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.