There are many “ifs” involved, but an agreement reached between Kristen Scalise, the Summit County fiscal officer, and the owner of Rolling Acres Mall could mean the vacant property will be transferred by the county to the city of Akron sometime this summer. That would open the possibility of redeveloping the mall and surrounding 50 acres, seeking to reverse years of decline.
For nearly two years, Scalise has played a frustrating game trying to collect nearly $1.1 million in back taxes owed by Premier Ventures, scheduling the property for a sheriff’s sale only to see the company file for bankruptcy, halting the process. Under the deal, Scalise will not put the mall up for a sheriff’s sale in February. In return, Premier Ventures, which claims to have buyer, will not file for bankruptcy again until Aug. 1.
The bottom line is: If there is no buyer, no bids during two sheriff’s sales in June and no payment on delinquent taxes, the property would be transferred to the city before the Aug. 1 deadline to which Premier Ventures has agreed. All that would not clear the decks completely. More negotiations would have to take place over the former department stores, which are owned separately and sealed off from the mall’s interior.
The challenge for Dan Horrigan, the soon-to-be mayor, and his team is to think creatively enough about the mall property and the Romig Road corridor. Zoning of the mall property allows for a variety of uses, ranging from residential to office space to light industrial. Another underlying positive factor is good freeway access, with nearby intersections set for improvement.
One intriguing possibility would be residential development. Akron is on target to demolish some 400 houses this year, while replacing fewer than a dozen. That is not a recipe for a healthy city, the lack of housing a major obstacle to attracting young families interested in the city’s amenities. The trend hardly helps to address population loss.
The Rolling Acres site might hold some 700 single-family homes, the large-scale redevelopment driving down costs through economies of scale. Residential development could have a ripple effect on neighborhood business districts, whose decline was a major topic in this year’s city elections.
Marco Sommerville, the city planning director, does not consider the sale of Rolling Acres by Premier Ventures a likely possibility. While that lack of interest by the private sector is now a key part of the process in place to transfer the property to the city of Akron, it also offers a reminder of the difficulties in taking the former retail area and converting it to a different use. If the city eventually does get control of Rolling Acres, it must reach out to the private sector in an effort to spark new ideas, seeking a partnership to change the area for the better.