What’s happening (yet) at West Park Shopping Centre?

Question: “What’s going on at West Park Mall? Is it still just their session deterioration? Why isn’t something being done?”

MANSFIELD — The city of Mansfield is starting over in its legal quest to resolve problems at the former West Park Shopping Center on Park Avenue West.

The the city originally ordered the demolition of the 1157 Park Ave structure. West for more than two years ago, during the administration of Mayor Tim Theaker and Law Director John Spon.

The move has sparked a flurry of discussions and arguments between the city and the property’s owners, West Mansfield Realty, and its New York-based parent company. Namdar Realty Groupand its ever-changing legal representatives.

Fast forward to present day, and the rapidly crumbling, empty mall along the heart of the so-called “Miracle Mile” has become the ever-vexing issue of current Mayor Jodie Perry and Law Director Rollie Harper.

That’s because the Mansfield Planning Commission voted Tuesday in late October 2023 to grant West Mansfield Realty a 90-day extension on its order to demolish the mall and massive paved parking lot.

Theaker and Spon left office two months later.

The buildings remain…and continue to self-demolish.

(Below are photos taken in October at West Park Shopping Center in Mansfield.)

Questions about the failed mall are among the most frequently asked Source Richland receives through Open Source. The questions led to a recent interview with Perry and Harper to discuss the ongoing issue.

Perry said he understands the frustrations of local residents tired of driving past the eyesore in the middle of what has been a key retail area in the community. Namdar’s website for property nothing like the reality that the residents of Mansfield see every day.

“And we (she and Harper) are both frustrated by it,” she said. “I don’t want people to think this wasn’t a priority or something we’re not working on. I would say we’re looking at all angles.”

For the past two years, local officials have acknowledged that Namdar is difficult to identify. It has a portfolio of nearly 400 properties, which includes more than 170 commercial properties in 37 states.

One of these is the Pittsburgh Mills mall. A story published at TribLive in Pittsburgh in October said: “Pittsburgh Mills mall owner built a real estate empire by buying dying malls and letting them deteriorate before selling properties and walking away, leaving helpless communities in his wake, according to officials in which Namdar Realty Group owns assets.”

The story said, “Last year, Namdar reported a gross profit of $86.7 million, up nearly 10 percent from the previous year, according to the Wall Street Journal. However, the company fails to invest in its properties, appeals property tax assessments – and often wins tens of millions of dollars in exemptions – and then sells the assets to developers at a hefty profit.”

For those who follow Namdar Realty Group, also acquired 200 Public Square, the third tallest skyscraper in downtown Cleveland at the beginning of this year.

The 45-story, 200-foot office building in Public Square, formerly known as the BP Tower and before that the Standard Oil Building, was purchased by Namdar for $54 million, according to published reports.

Namdar keeps changing the attorneys he hires to represent West Mansfield Realty, complicating the lawsuit.

“These cases often take years,” Harper said, adding that he doesn’t know if the frequent change of attorneys is intentionally slowing down the process.

“I don’t have an answer (to him) being intentional because I don’t have any direct communication about it. All I see is what I do … and because I see very slow motion, it’s time to turn up the heat and start going faster,” said the law director.

“Honestly, I inherited this case and there was a defective demolition order to begin with. It didn’t include parking, which we have to go back and redo. That’s what we do.”

In one intervention during ongoing talks between Namdar and the city, the company agreed to demolish the buildings in the mall but asked to keep the parking lot intact because it was not part of the demolition order. Lawyers for the company also challenged the city’s legal right to tear up the large lot.

Harper said he plans to issue a new demolition order and has retained the Canton law firm Baker, Dublikar, Beck, Wiley, and Mathews to help in the case.

It’s the same company the city uses lawsuit against Page Excavating for the alleged improper demolition of the former YMCA on Park Avenue West.

He said the order “addresses and overcomes any potential litigation and removes any ambiguity about parking and its removal.”

Harper said the city and his outside law firm believe a new demolition order is a better plan than condemning the previous one.

If the company refuses, he said the city will “work through the demolition process again to complete the order.”

When the new demolition order is issued, Namdar can choose the following avenues of appeal:

— appeal the order to the Urban Planning Commission.

— if that fails, it can appeal to the local, county or Ohio Building Appeals Board of the State Department of Commerce.

— if that fails, Namdar can appeal to the Building Appeals Board in the Richland County Common Pleas Court.

— if unsuccessful, the company can appeal to the Ohio Fifth District Court of Appeals.

The law director said once all appeals are exhausted, the company can hire a company to tear down the buildings and parking lot, or the city will finish the work, billing the company for the costs.

While the official demolition path continues, Perry said he continues to work to find solutions from the development side.

“We’ve had conversations with potential people who might buy it,” she said. “We would prefer to control it locally. We are investigating all options.

“It is not acceptable for the property to continue to languish,” the mayor said.

Perry acknowledged it’s a challenge for the city’s building codes and permits department to constantly monitor the property.

“I know (the workers) were there because we have regular reports from neighbors calling. City workers are trying to answer as much as possible in this regard. At the end of the day, the property owner should be the one taking care of their property,” she said.

“This is the frustration and the battle that we are fighting. There are a lot of developers and owners who do what they should. But there’s a certain amount that don’t,” she said.

What assurances can Harper and Perry give residents that this new effort will pay dividends?

“We have no way of knowing if it’s going to be different,” Harper said. “He could throw another curveball if he wanted to. I don’t know. But I know that’s the process we’re going to go through.”

Perry said he believes the previous administration was “honestly working to fix the problem, and they ran into a timing problem at the end of their time.”

“We are of the common opinion that this cannot continue. The residents … the community deserves more than what’s going on there.”