Cafaro Co. subsidiary purchases Boardman Dillard’s

By DAVID SKOLNICK

and Justin Dennis

news@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

A Cafaro Co. subsidiary has purchased the Dillard’s department store at the Southern Park Mall for $8.92 million. The store has about 180,000 square feet.

The sale to Boardman SC LLC, a Cafaro subsidiary, was finalized Wednesday, according to Mahoning County auditor’s online records. That was the same day that Dillard’s announced it was closing its doors effective no later than May 14.

“We were made aware some time ago that Dillard’s was closing” at the Southern Park Mall, said Joe Bell, a Cafaro Co. spokesman.

“We saw this as an opportunity to redevelop that building and revitalize it. It has been in the works for a while. It didn’t happen on the spur of the moment.”

The Cafaro Co. owns more than 50 properties, including Eastwood Mall in Niles.

Bell said the company is exploring options for what can be done with the location.

“We’ll see what we can do to make that space full and favorable to our business,” he said.

When asked how long it would take to find a tenant for that location, Bell said, “It would be wonderful to have something in there soon. It sometimes takes months or years to develop a space that size.”

The Dillard’s at Southern Park Mall opened in winter 1995. It is closing by May 14.

Sears department store went out of business at the Southern Park Mall less than a year ago. When Dillard’s closes, the mall will have only two anchor stores: Macy’s and JCPenney.

Dillard’s operates 13 other locations in Ohio, including one at Eastwood Mall. That Niles location opened in fall 1996 and was converted to a clearance center in fall 2016.

The Cleveland-founded Higbee Co. had owned the Southern Park Mall store since October 1993, according to auditor’s records. Records show Higbee changed the location’s ownership to a limited partnership holdings entity Wednesday, which sold the three parcels to Boardman SC LLC.

Kimberly Green, spokeswoman for Washington Prime Group, which owns Southern Park Mall, did not immediately return calls to comment Friday.

Mahoning County Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti withheld comment on the sale Friday until she could learn more about Cafaro Co.’s plans.

“We’re never afraid to have new business,” she said.

Rimedio-Righetti said despite the department store’s closure, , the county’s sales tax is healthy. She said commissioners have been working with county Auditor Ralph Meacham to determine how sales tax collected at Dillard’s has been disbursed to the county and state, but they don’t currently have any estimates.

Regardless, she said the store’s closure and 123 lost jobs highlights the necessity for Ohio counties to be able to collect sales tax from online purchases.

“The sales tax on internet sales has to be comparable to those people that are working in our areas – not only here but everywhere,” she said. “We need to seriously look at that.”