From eyesore to opportunity

Cities working to fill vacant 'big-box' stores

BY JANE PRENDERGAST | [email protected]

January 25, 2007

 

PHOTO: The former Thriftway on Paxton Road is now a bigg's.

The Enquirer/Glenn Hartong

PHOTO: This former Frank's store is being turned into retail space.

The Enquirer/Cara Owsley

PHOTO: This Michaels store and a Babies R Us will open soon in Florence's former Wal-Mart building.

The Enquirer/Carrie Cochran

 

CINCINNATI - All over the region, they sit for years - former Kmarts, Wal-Marts, Thriftways.

 

Once magnets for thousands of shoppers, now they're huge, vacuous buildings. Sitting empty, they frustrate everyone around them: operators of nearby stores who miss the lost customers; developers struggling to find retailers willing to settle in a spot that's not in the hottest market in town; and community leaders who watch their neighborhood's appearance and reputation deteriorate.

 

"These big boxes - many of which are controlled by Wall Street - are going to go wherever the money is," said Morton Schwartz, a commercial real estate agent for more than 40 years who now works for Grubb & Ellis/West Shell Commercial. "And what is left behind is second-generation space. People don't want it."

 

Dozens of "big box" stores sit empty around Greater Cincinnati. Counting the former Thriftways alone, 21 stores went vacant after the grocer's parent company, Winn-Dixie, announced in 2004 that the stores would close.

 

Kroger took over about a third of the locations, but the rest remain unused.

 

Article continued here: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070125/NEWS01/701250397

I say flood them and stage naval battles.

There's more good "big box" news too:

 

Aside from IKEA or a big box imploding, is there really any good news about big boxes?

"Residents also helped lobby for Metro buses to stop outside the center on Glenway Avenue instead of pulling in. That helped cut down on trash and on the congregating teenagers who were intimidating customers,"

 

Great idea - punish all residents, especially elderly and/or disabled transit users for the stupidity of a few. Awfully bigoted of them.

Don't worry...Green Twp. also made sure to block transit service to the new Legacy Place development!!  Brilliant indeed.

"Residents also helped lobby for Metro buses to stop outside the center on Glenway Avenue instead of pulling in. That helped cut down on trash and on the congregating teenagers who were intimidating customers,"

 

Great idea - punish all residents, especially elderly and/or disabled transit users for the stupidity of a few. Awfully bigoted of them.

 

Saying something to the teens would also be considered bigoted.

By whom? Common-sense enforcement of simple loitering laws to prevent teens from harassing people is hardly bigoted.

 

Making a place inaccessible (or less accessible) to groups like the elderly and disabled under the guise of "trash cleanup" and "dispersing unruly teens" is most certainly classist and discriminatory. Perhaps the residents could have lobbied to encourage better (more pro-active) security at the center rather than putting the burden on people who can least afford it.

Jane Prendergast wrote this? Hey KJP, long lost relative?

^That was the first thing I thought about.

 

Besides replacing it with another big box occupant, what kind of non-traditional functions can fit into such a building?

Indoor BMX, or skateboarding?

Nursery?

Business incubator?

 

By whom? Common-sense enforcement of simple loitering laws to prevent teens from harassing people is hardly bigoted.

 

The kids, their folks. Of course it's not racist to enforce loitering laws. But there are a few people who don't see it that way, and moving the buses is seen as a way to passively fix the problem without causing PR problems and losing sales.

I have a dream for when I am older to buy an empty big box... like an old small krogers... and build a roller-rink/arcade. Thats where more than half the birthdays of my childhood were, but all of them have seemed to disappear.

Oh man, like Laces on Columbus' East Side. I loved that place when I was a kid. It was where the new Wal-Mart is being built on Main. No real surprise...

Besides replacing it with another big box occupant, what kind of non-traditional functions can fit into such a building?

Indoor BMX, or skateboarding?

Nursery?

Business incubator?

 

I just say tear them down and start over with the land...I don't think that you can ever get a sustainable project/business out of a big box building.  They have got to be cheap/easy to tear down, since they are cheap/easy to build.

Besides replacing it with another big box occupant, what kind of non-traditional functions can fit into such a building?

Indoor BMX, or skateboarding?

Nursery?

Business incubator?

night clubs, churches, recreation centers, studios, boxing arenas, fraternal lodges, social service centers ....

I like the idea of the naval battle re-enactments

Dunno about zoning for any of these purposes, tho

HOMELESS SHELTERS! too bad the biggest big boxes are out where all the middle classians live

 

Ugly but functional :-D

Besides replacing it with another big box occupant, what kind of non-traditional functions can fit into such a building?

Indoor BMX, or skateboarding?

Nursery?

Business incubator?

night clubs, churches, recreation centers, studios, boxing arenas, fraternal lodges, social service centers ....

I like the idea of the naval battle re-enactments

Dunno about zoning for any of these purposes, tho

Well it would help if these places had a little architectural integrity and were integrated into a neighborhood. Big boxes just don't look like they belong anywhere. Especially ones like vacant K-Marts--they don't even have windows.

burn the mother down!

I have a dream for when I am older to buy an empty big box... like an old small krogers... and build a roller-rink/arcade. Thats where more than half the birthdays of my childhood were, but all of them have seemed to disappear.

 

I believe that the SportsPlus (if it's still called that) in Evendale was some sort of grocery store or Sam's Club before they converted it to two ice rinks and an indoor soccer field about 10-12 years ago.  I am not sure how the complex is doing now, but at the time it was an excellent conversion.

The city of Cleveland wants to turn an old KMart into a rec center in Collinwood

I believe that the SportsPlus (if it's still called that) in Evendale was some sort of grocery store or Sam's Club before they converted it to two ice rinks and an indoor soccer field about 10-12 years ago.

 

It was called Macros.

There's more good "big box" news too:

 

Aside from IKEA or a big box imploding, is there really any good news about big boxes?

A big box is a big box, even if the beloved IKEA