What happened to the Tri-County area and Tri-County Mall? (Cincinnati: sales, foreclosure)

[Belem148]

Just visited the area after being away for a few years. What the heck happened? Used to be a thriving area for shopping and retail, and it's obvious it's gone downhill.

Tri-County Mall has a few anchors with Dillard's turning into a discount store with final sales only. Abercrombie and Fitch and Disney Store gone. A church in there, as mall management is desperate to take on any tenant to fill up vacant space. A food court that has seen better days. Men's Warehouse adapting by building a stand alone location in front of the mall adjoining Chipotle's.

Drove down Chester Road and what was once had a big Windjammer restaurant, hotels, bars, and other restaurants has been demolished with the Sharonville Convention Center, among other things still remaining. A lot of Mexican style businesses like grocery stores and supplies stores on Kemper.

I have a theory as to what happened. It's the emergence of the West Chester and Liberty Township area. Outlet stores off I-75 with Bass Pro Shop moving there from the dying Forest Park area as well as the newly opened Liberty Township Town Center Mall. Seems a lot of the affluent people who lived in Fairfield and Springdale have moved to West Chester, Mason, and Liberty Township leaving lower income African Americans and older white people.

Apologize if a similar thread is opened as I only took a cursory glance at the threads in this section.

[Harvestman]

Good question. I visited the mall on Monday for the first time in about four years, and it's gone downhill even since then. Dillard's is gone now.
What you said about mall management seems to be correct, as there were plenty of "local businesses" operating inside.
I would not be surprised to see Sears gone in the near future, it's anyone's guess as to how they have held on this long. A pretty sad sight.

You mentioned Bass Pro Shops - have they moved out of Cincinnati Forest Mills Mall Plaza Fair Shops Towne Centre Pavilion, or whatever the name is now? Or is that coming in the near future? I heard they were due to leave but didn't know quite when.

[SWOH]

Bad mix of a few things are causing those problems...

1. Liberty Center - took Dillard's away

2. Very poor management the past few years. They aren't doing a good job of getting new stores in, and the ones they do get distill the mall profile - lots of junkier places

3. No recent renovations. I'm not counting Penny's, because that was a necessity, although doing a lifestyle conversion there would have been smarter.

4. Again, poor job of recruiting stores and no renovations, but more specifically due to a lack of understanding of where mid-range malls are going. They need to get big-box retailers in on the 747 facing corridor, specifically to build out new spaces with both mall and exterior entry as has been done at Dayton Mall, Northgate Mall, etc.. Dick's should be an easy win to get in the mall, same is true for hh gregg and Burlington, although they might need those for if/when Sears decides to scale down or close.

5. Changing demographics. Same issues Forest Fair had are travelling 3 miles down the road to here, poorer crowd (or lack of a crowd in general) is coming here.




Again, I'd say it is nothing that cannot be fixed. The location is excellent, and if Northgate can pull it off, certainly Tri-County can too. Peripheral big-bix space needs to be converted or demolished though, and the focus needs to come back to the mall itself. Easy targets for demolition IMO would be Casselini Square (which has been an eyesore for close to 20 years now), the Value City space, and the Dicks/Best Buy center. Consolidate and move on.

[SWOH]

Also, @Harvestman - Bass Pro is still in Forest Fair.

[Belem148]

Yes, I am saying Tri-County has gone ghetto. Anyone with money or upward mobility has moved north.

[Belem148]

Originally Posted by SWOH

Also, @Harvestman - Bass Pro is still in Forest Fair.

They're supposed to move to a stand alone location in Liberty Township.

[SWOH]

Originally Posted by Belem148

They're supposed to move to a stand alone location in Liberty Township.

If they are, they aren't in a hurry.

Also, I'm calling your first statement false, in part. I certainly am not seeing an exodus of wealth from places like Glendale, and I'm also seeing the exact same demographics of people living in Springdale that have always been there (lower middle class blue collar, largely). And there's nothing in the world wrong with that, the demographics are solid.

What's changing is to the north, in West Chester. Housing values are decreasing and problems are settling in to older areas of West Chester like Pisgah and Beckett Ridge. And with expanded shopping options in places like Liberty Twp. and Mason, a lot of people up there don't have a reason to go to Tri-County.

So what needs to happen is consolidation of the eyesore big-box space with a refocused effort on a strong mall. It's happened in other markets, Northgate being a good example locally (although there's a lot of room to demolish or re-purpose scruffy outlying box retail, though).

[SWOH]

Originally Posted by Belem148

Yes, I am saying Tri-County has gone ghetto. Anyone with money or upward mobility has moved north.

Or south into Cincy city limits - neighborhoods like Oakley and OTR, or downtown.

[Belem148]

Originally Posted by SWOH

If they are, they aren't in a hurry.

Also, I'm calling your first statement false, in part. I certainly am not seeing an exodus of wealth from places like Glendale, and I'm also seeing the exact same demographics of people living in Springdale that have always been there (lower middle class blue collar, largely). And there's nothing in the world wrong with that, the demographics are solid.

What's changing is to the north, in West Chester. Housing values are decreasing and problems are settling in to older areas of West Chester like Pisgah and Beckett Ridge. And with expanded shopping options in places like Liberty Twp. and Mason, a lot of people up there don't have a reason to go to Tri-County.

So what needs to happen is consolidation of the eyesore big-box space with a refocused effort on a strong mall. It's happened in other markets, Northgate being a good example locally (although there's a lot of room to demolish or re-purpose scruffy outlying box retail, though).

In West Cheste, most people enjoy steady appreciation and high property values in excess of $200,000; in Tri-County, most people are in negative equity from high foreclosure rates from the sub-prime era.

[SWOH]

Originally Posted by Belem148

In West Cheste, most people enjoy steady appreciation and high property values in excess of $200,000; in Tri-County, most people are in negative equity from high foreclosure rates from the sub-prime era.

Show me one house, just one, south of US 42 in West Chester that appreciated in value since 2006.

They don't exist. Because West Chester is going downhill. I grew up there, I know it's dying, like it or not. The action is in city limits or the far fringes like Morrow, or in more solid communities like Mason. Not West Chester. Its time has passed, and right now it is buoyed by Lakota Schools being tied to Liberty Twp, and that will only help for so long. Not saying it will become crime ridden, but it won't be distinguishable from Fairfield or Forest Park. The engineer who lived in the house down the street before will be selling to $15/hr logistics worker in the near future, because they can afford to buy it.

If you live there, I highly recommend moving if you want to maintain the atmosphere it had in the 2000's. Many people I know have or are working on it. It's not changing for the better, if speaking in terms of dollars and sense.