JCPenney has donated its former retail building at the long-vacant Rolling Acres Mall to the city, which plans to demolish it along with the remainder of the interior of the mall.
The five former department stores were not part of the foreclosure and are separately owned by private owners. Several have said they have successful business operations and are not interested in selling.
But recently, JCPenney, which long operated a JCPenney Outlet in the mall, donated its 160,000-square-foot building to the city, said Christine Curry, a city spokeswoman. The building will be demolished along with the city’s other Rolling Acres parcels.
A date for demolition hasn’t been determined.
“The city of Akron’s current focus is for the building to be demolished. Unfortunately, there are no demolition dates to share at this time,” Curry said.
JCPenney spokesman Joey Thomas said “the company aims to work closely with local officials on a plan that will enable them to bring productive development and new opportunities to the city of Akron.”
The JCPenney building was the last retail holdout at the former mall. An affiliate retailer operated the JCPenney name starting in 2011 and then changed the name to JC’s 5-Star Outlet before going out of business. The Rolling Acres location closed in December 2013.
In the meantime, the city and Greater Akron Chamber continue to get inquiries and some proposals for the former mall site.
Rick Rebadow, executive vice president of the chamber, said the group often gets inquiries locally and from out of town about redevelopment.
“There is a lot of interest in it, but not really in its current use and its current state with the big-box retailer,” he said.
Rebadow said he thinks there will be significant interest once the buildings are demolished because it’s a large site in a good location.
“As soon as they can demolish the site and prep it for development, that’s when we’re going to see the real opportunities,” he said.
City officials also confirmed that requests to salvage some items from the former mall were unsuccessful. Kurtiss Hare, executive director of Nightlight Cinema, was hoping the long-abandoned mall movie theater had equipment he could use at his downtown Akron theater.
Steve Kelleher, president of the Barberton Historical Society, had asked city officials to look for a mural of a Barberton barn he believed was left in a former bank.
Curry said the mural was not there and that the movie theater did not have anything that was in good enough condition to use.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @blinfisherABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty