Ohio communities struggle to fill former big-box stores

Associated Press

DAYTON

Many Ohio communities are finding few prospects for the redevelopment of other large stores, such as empty Wal-Mart and Meijer properties. Real estate professionals dub these large, vacant stores in the middle of developed areas “red fields,”

Redeveloping these sites is crucial if the region wants to attract young professionals to cities and inner-ring suburbs, said Gene Krebs, senior policy director at Greater Ohio, a smart growth think tank.

“It is incredibly important because it goes to what is the attractiveness of your community, which is key,” Krebs said. “What these properties represent is missing teeth in the Miami Valley’s smile.”

The recession quickened the pace of retail abandonment, said Robert Puentes, a fellow at the Brookings Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

“We have an economy based on consumption on the retail and residential side that has marched outward toward the suburbs,” Puentes said.

In Trotwood, the city used $750,000 in state funds typically earmarked for cleaning up industrial sites to demolish nearly 1 million square feet of the former Salem Mall, one of the region’s first suburban retail centers. City officials are no longer even considering retail for the former mall site.

Complicating the problem are clauses some retailers build into their leases prohibiting development of the empty spaces.

The city of Dayton has had a hard time getting anyone increased in the 200,000-square feet of vacant space represented by an abandoned Meijer store. The retailer said it moved to be more accessible to the population it serves.

“We’ll make sure the property doesn’t get blighted,” said Meijer spokesman Frank Guglielmi. “One of our core values is to take care of the communities where our team members and customers live.”