Signature Associates

Shopping center owner plans retail development, nixes residential units

Posted By: The Toledo Blade on September 8, 2024.  For more information, please click here to read the source article.

Toledoans who were hoping that an apartment building would be built across the street from the Westgate Village shopping center are going to be disappointed.

Liz Holland, the chief executive officer and general counsel of the company that owns the retail venue, has changed her thinking about the redevelopment of the West Toledo properties where Sears and Elder-Beerman once stood.

Those stores were demolished a year ago. Since then, little progress on redevelopment has been evident.

“I appreciate everyone’s frustration about the north side of Central,” Ms. Holland said. “These things take a long time — and even longer to get it right. The challenge of real estate is that once you start, you can’t unwind it, so you have to start with the best thing possible.

“The challenge in the last two to three years is that the cost of construction post-pandemic and the cost of money has gone up to the point where it’s not economically feasible to develop multifamily apartments there,” she said.

Westgate and a majority of the vacant land across from it are owned by Chicago-based Abbell Associates. Ms. Holland’s grandfather, Joseph Abbell, built the first iteration of Westgate at the southwest corner of Central Avenue and Secor Road in 1946. Prior to that, the area had been an apple orchard.

After a half-century of operations, the original Westgate shopping center was demolished and rebuilt as a “shopping village” with a Costco and a Rite Aid occupying out-lots.

Abbell Associates didn’t acquire the Sears property until 2021. The Elder-Beerman site is currently owned by the Niki Group, a San Diego-based boutique commercial real estate investment company.

The two companies are working together on redevelopment plans.

“It was clear to us that our fates are tied together due to the proximity of the sites,” Ms. Holland said. “Our site is 21 acres, and theirs is between five and six acres. This is one cohesive development project with two owners.”

As she considers possible tenants for a new retail space on the north side of Central, she was adamant that she did not want to see duplicative stores. The example she gave was not building a big-box retailer like Sam’s Club because Westgate already has a Costco.

“We want to provide a good mix of outlets there. It won’t be just one store, it will be a variety that will break up the sea of parking,” she said.

Ms. Holland also said that she would veto vape shops, car washes, and self-storage facilities.

“Some developers will rent to anyone with a heartbeat and a checkbook,” she said, “but we’re not that kind of developer.”

Norma Graser, the manager of Fresh Market, one of the largest stores in the Westgate shopping strip, was disappointed apartments will not be built on the old Sears/Elder-Beerman site. She voiced concern that adding new shopping venues to the area would exacerbate traffic congestion.

“This area is saturated with commercial buildings,” she said. “Trying to get to this plaza can be frustrating, depending on the time of day. Traffic can be horrendous.”

If there were to be a commercial development across the street, Ms. Graser would favor something that might attract younger people, such as a gym, an indoor entertainment or sports facility such as a Scene75, or a Topgolf.

People who live in the Westgate area have no shortage of ideas about what they’d like to see added to the shopping complex’s mix of businesses.

Cheri Ricketts, a 73-year-old retiree who lives just under a mile from Westgate, would love to see a pharmacy come in to replace the soon-to-be-closed Rite Aid. She’d also welcome a good shoe store, a real family restaurant, or — especially — a bookstore.

“You can’t have too many bookstores,” she said.

Another vote for a bookstore comes from 30-year-old Yasmin Tolliver, who works at the Amazon distribution facility in Rossford and lives a little over a mile east of Westgate.

“I’d also like to see an arts and crafts store and a bakery,” she said. “There are none around there now.”

Isaiah Whitlow works in the robot automation section of Ford Motor Co. and has lived in Old Orchard for nine years. He notes that Sears and Elder-Beerman were already declining when he moved to the neighborhood.

He’s a regular Westgate shopper and has some thoughts about how he’s like to see the area evolve.

“Old Orchard residents are boutique people,” he said. “They want small, intimate stores that cater to particular needs.”

Mr. Whitlow himself would like to see an upscale clothing store that sells quality men’s suits along the lines of Jones for Men in Monroe.

“We don’t need more restaurants,” he said, “but if we did, it should be a sit-down restaurant, not another take-out place.”

At present, a portion of the former Sears parking lot is used as the site of the Westgate Farmer’s Market, which operates every Wednesday mid-May through October. The market is popular among local residents, and Ms. Holland wants to find a way to fit it into the redevelopment plan. She is talking with city of Toledo officials about how best to address storm water drainage there.

One unexpected blow to Westgate and the surrounding community was the impending closure of Rite Aid as part of the company’s bankruptcy liquidation. The store there not only provided area residents with a nearby pharmacy but also served as a convenience store that sold greeting cards, snacks, newspapers, cosmetics, feminine hygiene products, and sundries.

Sunday marks Rite Aid’s last day of operation at that location.

Ms. Holland said that she was sad to see that Rite Aid is about to close. She recalled that there has been a pharmacy at Westgate since it opened in 1956 with a Lane’s Drugstore as an original tenant. With the benefit of hindsight, she now wishes that in 2006 she had chosen a stronger pharmacy operator for the area.

“We loved the drugstore use there,” she said. “It’s an unfortunate time in the drugstore business, though, and there really isn’t another user ready to open a new drugstore there. There’s not a clear user for an 11,000-square-foot building with a drive-through.”

Ms. Holland fondly recalls going to Westgate with her parents back when there was a Lion Store, a Lane’s drugs, and restaurants such as Friendly’s, Coney Island, and Barry Bagels.

“Over the years, we’ve maintained a high level of goods and services,” she said. “That was our vision back in the early 2000s when we realized that Westgate had to evolve with the times. I put a shovel in the ground in May, 2006, to tear it down almost 50 years to the day my grandfather opened it.”

While there is no timetable for the redevelopment of the vacant Sears and Elder-Beerman site, Ms. Holland insists that her family’s company is not merely biding its time and waiting for economic conditions to change.

“We’re at the 30-yard line now, but we started at the 2-yard line after the pandemic,” she said.

“Liz Holland’s track record speaks for itself,” said Toledo City Council member Sam Melden, who represents the district where Westgate is situated. “I believe her when she says she wants to bring in retailers that won’t compete with existing stores in the area. I think people in West Toledo will be excited about that.”

Despite Ms. Holland’s conclusion that apartments would be economically unfeasible, Mr. Melden is still hopeful something can be done to bring residential units to Westgate.

“I hope they can make the numbers work,” he said. “It’s symbiotic to have both retail and residential units there. I appreciate the developer’s patience and how they have been strategic and deliberate.”

Although Ms. Holland lives in Chicago, she visits Toledo three or four times a quarter and stays in a hotel near Westgate. She also follows Toledo politics.

“I have a great relationship with Wade Kapszukiewicz,” she said. “I support good leadership. I know how important it is. It’s the difference between living in a city that’s moving forward and one moving backwards. I think Wade has done a great job. I would support anything that would maintain good leadership.”

She also acknowledges that one day the leadership of her family’s company will pass to members of its fourth generation.

“Our intent has always been to keep the business in the family and to be good stewards of the Westgate area,” she said.