Randall Park mall was once a very busy shopping mecca, but now due to Crime, newer malls, and being outdated its 1.5 Million square feet are now half full of second and third tier retailers. I heard there were plans to turn it into condos, any truth to that? Also will Macy's actually keep that store open once Kaufmann's becomes Macy's?

ikea!

^lol

 

I've been there before. like in the mid 90's. ;)

Haven't heard anything about condos; however, I don't think converting it into another use would be a bad thing.  It's starting to resemble it's Akron twin, Rolling Acres Mall; though not nearly as bad IMO.

^lol

 

I've been there before. like in the mid 90's. ;)

 

i was kinda poking fun at people (from whater city accross the US) whines and pines for an ikea)

Urban warzone training, or a community college

Does anyone want to see it return to its former glory... meaning a cmplete renovation ridding it of everyting from its 70's decor to the pot hole riddled parking lot and adding more relevant retailers and services?

Near Orlando, a mall was redeveloped as a lifestyle center with one of the department stores converted into loft apartments. That's the only thing I can see happening with Randall Park Mall.

 

I remember when the mall was being built and went there many many times in the late 70s and early 80s. Shopped there with the family. Saw movies there with friends (Airplane, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist, and many others). Lots of good memories until I went off to college in 1985. When I came back in 1990, the place was a ghost town.

i have similar early days memories. one eerie one that stands out is weekend groups of jewish seniors, hanging around the mall seating in short sleeves with the concentration camp tatoos in their arms. i saw them there often and that memory visual is quite haunting.

 

wasn't randall park the biggest mall back when it was built? i think so, something like that.

 

i don't feel too bad about its decline, all of those 70's style malls are tired & outdated. it's all about the lifestyle mall these days, mainstreet style shopping and residential. maybe it needs to exit stage right like it's peer the richfield coliseum did!

 

 

I believe your right mrnyc, I think it was the largest mall in the country when it was first built.

 

I remember hearing about Randall Park when I was a kid, I wanted to go there so bad because I heard it was huge and had tons of stores.  By the time I was a teenager, my brother and I finally made a trip up there.  Boy was I disappointed, it had already started it's slow downward decline; it was nothing like the vibrant mall I'd heard about.  With so many newer and renovated shopping centers in the Greater Cleveland area (just on the east side alone), I don't think Randall will be able to compete without some form of a major overhaul.

its a cycle.  Randall Mall...Killed Severance (the best mall EVER in the Cleveland area)...Beachwood Mall....Slowly poisoned Randall Park....

Who owns Randall because in my opinion with a MASSIVE renovation of the Mall and its surroundings and increased security it could become a regional mall once again. The nearest malls to the SE side are The Beachwood/Legacy combo which caters to the middle to upperclass market, Severance(If you still consider it a mall) and Richmond which serves the middle market but is kind of far from the south east side and not really that big. Without Randall the SE side would be underserved and would have to drive 20 minutes to get to the nearest shopping Mall.

"Without Randall the SE side would be underserved and would have to drive 20 minutes to get to the nearest shopping Mall."

 

Oh no, a whole 20 minutes?!?  :roll:

its a cycle.  Randall Mall...Killed Severance (the best mall EVER in the Cleveland area)...Beachwood Mall....Slowly poisoned Randall Park....

 

But isn't there a huge and vibrant retail area on Severence Mall's grave?  I remember it being worse than Euclid Square Mall for a while, then looking like Montrose or Mentor the next time I was out that way...

I don't think anything is worse than Euclid Square Mall is right now. Not only is the mall empty (save for a store or two), the out-lot retailers are closed up too. It's pretty remarkable and sad.

 

In my "Cleveland of the future" Euclid Square Mall and its surrounding out-lot structures are demolished, replaced by a new-urbanist town, served by linked extensions of the Red Line and Waterfront Line, and connected to a station on the Ohio Hub high-speed rail line to Buffalo and Toronto.

its a cycle.  Randall Mall...Killed Severance (the best mall EVER in the Cleveland area)...Beachwood Mall....Slowly poisoned Randall Park....

 

But isn't there a huge and vibrant retail area on Severence Mall's grave?  I remember it being worse than Euclid Square Mall for a while, then looking like Montrose or Mentor the next time I was out that way...

 

Severance is now a big-box development that is doing some very good business.  Walmart, Home Depot, Borders, etc.

its a cycle.  Randall Mall...Killed Severance (the best mall EVER in the Cleveland area)...Beachwood Mall....Slowly poisoned Randall Park....

 

But isn't there a huge and vibrant retail area on Severence Mall's grave?  I remember it being worse than Euclid Square Mall for a while, then looking like Montrose or Mentor the next time I was out that way...

 

Severance is now a big-box development that is doing some very good business.  Walmart, Home Depot, Borders, etc.

 

Yes, it is.  However, Severance was Clevelands first truly luxury mall.  Halle's (our version of Bergdorf Goodman) and Higbees were TOP NOTCH.  I remember when people would go to Halle's Severance just to have lunch/dinner.

 

And for years prior to its redevelopment, Severance died because shoppers wanted to be able to hit Higbees, May Co, Joeseph Hornes, Sears & JCPenny's as well as a ton of other national retailers at Randall Park and the luxury stores bolted for the "new mall" at beachwood.  This also around when the Halle's ceased business.

 

Then Hornes came to severance which was then absorbed by I think The May department Stores, (i forget how the HOrnes brand was absorbed) then it turned into the Mens Higbees at Severance.  It was sad.

 

I can remember my mom taking us to the Severance Halles although the Halle's on Shaker Square was closer.  I can remember her saying I'f I can't get it at the downtown, Severance is the only place to shop.

The outlot stores have left North Randall as well, the only things left are Sofa Express and the Jewelry Factory.  As a resident of the SE side trust me when I say that people are more than happy to avoid Randall and drive to other malls.  I for one go to Beachwood; mainly because I don't really buy all that much and if I have to be in a mall it might as well look really nice.  I also am partial to two story malls and the curvature of the inside walking areas.  My girlfriend on the otherhand likes to drag me off to malls like Mentor and ChapelHill, which I generally detest, mostly because I don't enjoy my aimless walking time there as I do in Beachwood. 

 

As far as redevelopment I really like the idea of a community college except that Tri-C east is right up the road.  I have only ever imagined it being demolished or being converted to a casino should it become legal.

I think they should convert it into horse stables for the neighboring race track.

RPM should just be torn down...that place is dying the slowest death of any mall I have ever seen.  I worked there '91 - '94 and it was a mess then...I honestly can't believe it is even still open.  I think Sears does a good business, but isn't most of the viable retail in that area around Southgate USA just south of there?  Last I heard Southgate was doing pretty well...which is interesting because RPM kinda killed it in the beginng.  MayCo and Penny's abandoned and went to RPM for example.  Here is some exerpts from an interesting(but long) historical article about RPM and DeBartolo's insistence on building it...and how beautiful it was going to be.  I should also warn that some of the quotes on the area are pretty racist.

 

http://www.clevelandmagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=586CA122EB394032BD4AA3B686FF03D9&nm=Editorial&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=1578600D80804596A222593669321019&tier=4&id=DF861FC8AEA54F84A19FC6983DF22451

 

From Cleveland Magazine, July 1976

 

"Ladies and gentlemen, you might think there won't be a palm tree left in Florida," says a fiercely smiling Bill Richmond, slick as a sideshow barker. "Because there will be 82 of them planted in this mall . ..."

 

Richmond, oozing charm he bottled and brought up with him from his native Tennessee, is squiring representatives from some 50 of the country's leading newspapers who are in Cleveland for a national gathering of real estate editors. At this moment they are getting a firsthand preview of a $175-million undertaking billed as "the world's largest and most beautiful shopping complex": gargantuan Randall Park Mall, 2.2 million sprawling square feet, suburbia's most spectacular new temple for the mercantile arts. This self-contained, climate-controlled colossus sits on a 144-acre plot that is bounded by Emery Road to the north, Northfield Road to the east, Miles Road to the south and Warrensville Center Road to the west — a sizable hunk of the tiny village of North Randall in southeastern Cuyahoga County. It is scheduled to open for business next month, on august 11.

The downtown quote is scary but true.  Randall Killed hurt, Severance, Shaker Square, and Southgate.  However, with "reverse" flight and strong community ties, those areas are now being reborn, as people want the convienience of shopping in their immediate area.

Simon currently owns Randall Park Mall.  They did a lazy renovation when they added the Magic Johnson Movies in the 90's.  Instead of actually renovating the mall, this was their hope for a re-birth there.  I still have no idea how a  theater alone would bring it alive and of course this did not work.  The mall continued to fall apart and look even more dated.  More anchors left and then the stores went with it.  I have not been in there in about 4 years, but last time I was there, the inside was mainly just indie businesses.  The chains had all left besides the anchors.  The whole area is depressing.  From the mall, to the shopping centers around it.  There's only one hope, tear it all down, and come up with something new for the neighborhood.  Whether it be mixed use or something else.  Almost all the retail around it is going empty not to mention the hulk of the Holiday Inn.

 

It's odd that Simon did such a good job redeveloping Richmond Mall (although it is starting to decline, once again)  but they put no effort what so ever into reversing the decline at Randall Park besides bringing in Burlington and Magic. 

I've never been to Richmond, Randall Park, or Great Lakes Mall.  I will have to check them out sometime.  I've never been in a dead or dying mall, except for Westgate, which wasn't really that dead at the time I was there, so I find it a little hard to picture.  I had no idea Randall Park was the largest mall around at one time.

Could it be converted into a super white collar industrail park....or something

 

call in centers...they could even keep the food court.

 

NO, I am not drunk, yet

I have never been there.  I remember in the 80s that it was revered as a shopping mecca.  I also remember when Parmatown was well-regarded.

 

So, what will be the next Randall Park Mall? What will be the Randall Park Mall of 2020?

I've never been to Richmond, Randall Park, or Great Lakes Mall.  I will have to check them out sometime.  I've never been in a dead or dying mall, except for Westgate, which wasn't really that dead at the time I was there, so I find it a little hard to picture.  I had no idea Randall Park was the largest mall around at one time.

 

Xman - Don't do it!  its a waste of gas and time!

Actually, I was thinking this could be "Forum Meet '06"

What maked you think Richmond is starting to decline again? I think they should build a second floor at Richmond and extensively renovate the exteriors or both Penneys and Sears they are hideous and outdated buildings.

Actually, I was thinking this could be "Forum Meet '06"

 

Oh no you didn't!!  :-o

Actually, I was thinking this could be "Forum Meet '06"

 

Make sure and get a pic of everyone standing on those weird ramps.  As I recall there was no Elevator in the entire mall common areas, so they had these long winding ramps for wheelchairs.  I think this pic is of the May Co Store at Randall...kind of odd round design.

 

 

http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cgi-bin/pview.exe?CISOROOT=/press&CISOPTR=732&CISORESTMP=/qbuild/template1_comprehensive.html&CISOVIEWTMP=/qbuild/template2_comprehensive.html&CISOROWS=2&CISOCOLS=4

I believe Richmond is on the decline again due to the loss of many prominent chain stores. This includes Old Navy. It is not exactly a good sign when one of your largest inline tenants gets up and leaves. There are more and more indie retailers showing up. This is usually a sign of a declining mall. Is the mall dead? Certainly not, it is a long ways from that but it has lost many of its tenants since its renovation. Just compare it to Great Lakes Mall. GLM is doing very well since its renovation. Richmond hasn't been able to hang on to many of those chains that move in after renovation.

 

I just don't see why a second floor would even be necessary there. The east side is pretty much "malled out". What stores are needed there? I don't see any demand for more retail there. The loss of tenants proves that.

 

I do agree however Sears desperately needs a makeover on its exterior. JCPenney's was given a makeover with the mall renovation. It's not a great look but I don't think it is totally outdated either.

 

One final note and this goes back to Randall Park, and it is a correction of my own. Simon sold the mall for $4 million in 2003 so they no longer own it. As far as who owns it today, all I can find is conflicting information. Simon never announced who purchased it and they buried the fact they sold it at all in a financial sheet. Obviously Simon gave up on it after its lazy "renovation."

I guess the reason I think a second floor would be good is so the mall could add more stores that attract a wider range of people like Great Lakes and thus halt or slow a possible decline. If you have been to Westfield Southpark, great Northern or great lakes you see alot of retailers that are absent from Richmond. It also doesn't have much room to grow laterally. One thing it has over others is the 20 screen Loews. A new addition would also give Sears and some of the other stores reason to spruce up and update like they did with the renovation in '98

  Simon never announced who purchased it and they buried the fact they sold it at all in a financial sheet.  Obviously Simon gave up on it after its lazy "renovation."

 

Didn't Magic Johnson's development group purchase the mall?  they probably did structural repairs in order to increase sale amount.  So it probably wasn't a true "renovation."

Magic's company acquired Severance after it was re-developed into a power center.  That's probably what you are thinking of. 

 

Whatever company did buy Randall Park has made it pretty secretive.  All I can find are conflicting reports and rumors over who bought it.  Nothing I can truly confirm because it is all a run around.  Even an article from Crain's didn't truly tell.  It told of a capital fund company owning it while Farbman Group was managing it.  Farbman's site does not have any listings for Randall Park and the fund's site sounds more like a loan company than a mall owner.  It makes me wonder if a re-development could be on its way soon.  Farbman is usually not in the mall business, they run office buildings. 

 

I do remember several years ago, it was rumored that the mall was going to be torn down for a MLS soccer stadium.  Obviously, that has fallen through since the mall is still sitting there and there's has been no news of a soccer team coming to Cleveland.

Magic's company acquired Severance after it was re-developed into a power center.  That's probably what you are thinking of. 

 

Whatever company did buy Randall Park has made it pretty secretive.  All I can find are conflicting reports and rumors over who bought it.  Nothing I can truly confirm because it is all a run around.  Even an article from Crain's didn't truly tell.  It told of a capital fund company owning it while Farbman Group was managing it.  Farbman's site does not have any listings for Randall Park and the fund's site sounds more like a loan company than a mall owner.  It makes me wonder if a re-development could be on its way soon.  Farbman is usually not in the mall business, they run office buildings. 

 

I do remember several years ago, it was rumored that the mall was going to be torn down for a MLS soccer stadium.  Obviously, that has fallen through since the mall is still sitting there and there's has been no news of a soccer team coming to Cleveland.

 

No that's not what I was thinking..... I think old-timers is setting in.  :?

I do remember several years ago, it was rumored that the mall was going to be torn down for a MLS soccer stadium.  Obviously, that has fallen through since the mall is still sitting there and there's has been no news of a soccer team coming to Cleveland.

 

that and the man behind the plan has passed (bert wolstein)

Richmond Heights Mall is definitely not the same as it was when first re-opened, but I think it's serving it's purpose okay.  Old Navy's departure was a bad sign, American Eagle left as well.  I was dubious about it's ability to maintain itself from the start due to it's close proximity to Beachwood Mall.  I think Beachwood is attracting the many new residents of Highland Heights and that area more than RTS.  The place as presently constituted does not have room to grow laterally despite an enormous swath of parking that is dramatically unused.  I don't even say under-used.  It's UNused.  I don't know why it's all out there and thought it was a waste of space.  There is a new residential development going up behind the church north of that lot (close to 200,000 sq feet) but...if they had incorporated some residiential components there originally it could have been much better integrated and provided more of a boost.

 

Anyway - I agree that the east suburbs are already very well served by existing and coming retail.  I don't know the books on Richmond Town Square but I think it's safe to say that renovation, while a plus for the area, did not exactly hit a home run.  I sometimes get a little giggly and imagine a Blue Line extension down northfield road to the land the mall sits on.  Tear down the mall and then devlop something special at the new terminus of the Blue Line.

I sometimes get a little giggly and imagine a Blue Line extension down northfield road to the land the mall sits on.  Tear down the mall and then devlop something special at the new terminus of the Blue Line.

 

I drive down that direction pretty often and I think the same thing.  I don't think it's that silly, take a look at this (from Google Earth):

 

 

There's a median down Northfield most of the way.  You could rename the mall (Randall Park Mall is now synonymous with crime), change some of the retail to residential, do something about the vast parking lot wasteland, and send the train right into the mall.  Personally I would change one of the anchors to condos and the other to assisted-living.  Older people often start to feel like they've lost their independence--at least here they could still do some of their own shopping, and hop on the train to get around town. 

 

The biggest problem with this plan would probably be the Warrensville/Chagrin/Route 8 intersection:

 

 

The traffic is pretty slow here already, and there's a Starbucks in the way.  Actually Google Earth seems to put the train crashing into Starbucks, which I'm pretty sure it doesn't do.  I can't see sending trains through at street level, maybe underground for a few hundred feet?  Off topic, but there's a really good indian place (Saffron Patch) at this intersection and a good Jamacian place (Ron's Smokehouse Grill) near the mall on Warrensville.

 

I don't think there's any way to just revitalize the existing Randall Mall at this point.  It needs at the very least a name change and some mixed-use repurposing. 

 

 

-

From the 12/7/06 PD:

 

 

Scenes from a mall

A glimmer of hope at Randall Park

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Joanna Connors

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

Randall Park Mall may be on the endangered list at the Web site deadmalls.com, but it is not dead. Reports of its demise have not been all that exaggerated, but they're not quite true, either.

 

People talk about Randall Park the way you might talk about minor TV actors of the 1970s. First: "Remember that guy from 'Rockford Files'? You know - that guy. What was his name?" Then: "I heard he died, like, a few years ago." 

 

http://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living/1165496191300000.xml&coll=2

 

Randall Mall to close:

 

Randall Park Mall to close by June 12

 

Posted by rroguski May 21, 2008 19:32PM

 

Plain Dealer fileCars packed the parking lot of Randall Park Mall on opening day, Aug. 11, 1976.

After more than 30 years, Randall Park Mall will close in mid-June.

 

David Smith, mayor of North Randall, said Wednesday that mall owner Whichard Real Estate has decided to shut down the property.

 

The few dozen small stores inside the sprawling, mostly empty mall have until June 12 to close or move into empty storefronts on nearby roads. Burlington Coat Factory and Sears, which can be accessed from outside the mall, will stay open, as will the movie theater and Ohio Technical College's PowerSport Institute.

 

Attached image:

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2008/05/randallpark.jpg

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2008/05/cars_packed_the_parking_lot.html

Another one bites the dust...

 

Too bad. I have lots of fond memories of that place from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. Saw lots of movies there. Shopped there. Played video games there.

 

More malls will die or be rebuilt into mixed-use places. You can bet on it.

oh well.

 

I can remember traffic being backed up to ellacott.

 

Now its just a big ....  convention center. 

Too bad. I have lots of fond memories of that place from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. Saw lots of movies there. Shopped there. Played video games there.

 

One of my fondest memories growing up: The old west saloon shoot up game in the arcade. God, that was fun!

Quick! Extend the Blue Line down here, and go buck-wild TOD!

Extend the Blue Line to Randall Park Mall?

 

Screw that!!

 

Extend it to run through the insides of Randall Park Mall!!

There is something I find ironic about Randall Malls closing (which was inevitable...surprised it took so long).

 

Back when Randall opened, everyone thought that meant within in a few years Southgate Shopping Center in Maple Hts., a couple of miles away and probably the biggest shopping center in Greater Cleveland at the time would slowly die (I worked in high school at one of the stores there).  While Southgate is certainly not what it was in the 60's and early 70's, it is funny that it is still around and generally viable, while Randall is no more.

 

The closing (and similar closings across the nation) really is a comment on our society and how tastes (and for that matter neighborhoods) change so quickly.  I mean 1975 really is not that long ago.  When you consider that Randall has really been in decline since the mid 90's, this huge development only had a shelf life of 20 years.  In the meantime lets keep building strip malls in Streetsboro (by the way don't get me wrong...I am no fan of malls like Randall or what they did to downtown shopping in their hey day)

that because southgate had

http://youtube.com/watch?v=etiOp1RrEDk&feature=related

 

Honestly, I thought Randall was the shiznit when it opened.

 

Everyone went there.  They had the 2nd best Higbees behind Downtown and they had every store under the sun in that puppy.

 

I think what was surrounding the mall didn't help.  No hotels, no non retail places to party, etc.

 

anyway...its doesn't matter now. 

 

Lets hope legacy and that god awful crocker park closes in sooner.

 

The two floor arcade was awesome.  Growing up I remember going to Friendly's for dinner, shopping at The Hobby Shop, and sprinting down those red carpeted ramps.  Good times. 

MTS...that is hilarious.  Way back when Ted Knight was doing commercials for Southgate I actually met him.  My boss (at Bonds...remember the store at the corner of 9th and Euclid where NCB is now?) was president of the Southgate merchants association and he came in to the store to do a commercial.  Really nice guy and I remember that he had this huge build.