March 25, 20241 yr This video is wild: The host of the gala, the developer George Herscu, would be bankrupt and in jail in Australia a year later. A sign of things to come.
March 25, 20241 yr We drove past Forest Fair over the weekend. I was surprised to see it still standing, but how awful it looked was even more surprising.
March 25, 20241 yr ...and people wonder why there was a commercial real estate crash in 1990-91. Who the hell signed off on the loans to build this duplicative mall?
March 25, 20241 yr Cincinnati has historically been heavily over-retailed whereas Columbus suffers with being under-retailed. This has to do with increasingly stringent household income metrics by retailers. Cincinnati has pretty much always met these metrics to the point that everyone said "screw the metrics" and went bonkers opening stores. Partially this is due to Columbus' reputation for being very open to migrants.
March 25, 20241 yr 16 minutes ago, GCrites said: Cincinnati has historically been heavily over-retailed whereas Columbus suffers with being under-retailed. This has to do with increasingly stringent household income metrics by retailers. Cincinnati has pretty much always met these metrics to the point that everyone said "screw the metrics" and went bonkers opening stores. Partially this is due to Columbus' reputation for being very open to migrants. Cincinnati was probably significantly wealthier per capita in the 1980s. They're likely even now. I'm just guessing, though. The banks and private equity pay ivy league grads to do the research, then not share it with anyone.
June 18, 2024Jun 18 Cincinnati developer Vandercar Holdings plans to buy, redevelop former Forest Fair Mall A prolific Cincinnati developer plans to purchase Forest Fair Village – formerly known as Forest Fair Mall – and redevelop most of it into industrial and retail space. Rob Smyjunas, CEO of Vandercar Holdings, told the Business Courier he is working out the final terms for the purchase of the 90.5-acre property from its current owner, Floral Park, N.Y.-based World Properties. Smyjunas became involved after Hillwood, a Perot company based in Dallas, dropped out of the project in early May. More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2024/06/17/forest-fair-mall-redevelopment-vandercar-smyjunas.html "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
June 18, 2024Jun 18 16 minutes ago, ColDayMan said: Cincinnati developer Vandercar Holdings plans to buy, redevelop former Forest Fair Mall A prolific Cincinnati developer plans to purchase Forest Fair Village – formerly known as Forest Fair Mall – and redevelop most of it into industrial and retail space. Rob Smyjunas, CEO of Vandercar Holdings, told the Business Courier he is working out the final terms for the purchase of the 90.5-acre property from its current owner, Floral Park, N.Y.-based World Properties. Smyjunas became involved after Hillwood, a Perot company based in Dallas, dropped out of the project in early May. More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2024/06/17/forest-fair-mall-redevelopment-vandercar-smyjunas.html I’m going to assume there’s going to be a grocery store. Maybe trying to push for a Publix?
June 18, 2024Jun 18 The nearby subdivisions have streets that dead end near the mall site (circled in red below). This would be a great opportunity to use some Retrofitting Suburbia mindset here and tie the new development into these existing streets, transitioning from single family homes on the east, to townhomes or small apartments in the center, to larger mixed-use buildings with apartments and retail on the west.
June 18, 2024Jun 18 Made it all the way to May 2024. Most of those warehouse project cancelations happened in 2022-early 2023.
June 18, 2024Jun 18 21 hours ago, Ucgrad2015 said: I’m going to assume there’s going to be a grocery store. Maybe trying to push for a Publix? Publix refuses to cross the Ohio River, at least right now.
June 19, 2024Jun 19 22 hours ago, GCrites said: Made it all the way to May 2024. Most of those warehouse project cancelations happened in 2022-early 2023. It is fascinating when you pause to think about it. All of the sudden that structure is approaching 40 years old.
September 20, 2024Sep 20 Owner of Forest Fair Mall, Cincinnati developer back out of planned sale. Here's what's next A Cincinnati developer’s plan to purchase Forest Fair Village – formerly known as Forest Fair Mall and Cincinnati Mills – has fallen through. Rob Smyjunas, CEO of Vandercar Holdings, confirmed he is out of the deal to buy the 71-acre property from New York-based Tommy Demetriades, who owns it through Cincinnati Holding Co. LLC. Demetriades told the Business Courier the decision to part ways was mutual. The deal itself – through which Smyjunas hoped to bring in an advanced manufacturing firm that would invest $80 million, create 700 to 1,000 new jobs and take up the entire industrial portion of the site – is still in play, though the identities of the end user and the developer coming in to replace Vandercar remain unknown. Demetriades is in the process of negotiating with the unnamed developer – he declined to say whether the firm is local – and that developer is in the process of negotiating with the unnamed end user, as well as the city of Forest Park. More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2024/09/20/forest-fair-mall-sale-vandercar-garage-demolition.html "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
January 10Jan 10 After the relocation of Bass Pro Shops and the closing of this Kohl's, there will be 0 stores remaining at Cincinnati Mall: Kohl's Corp. closing 27 stores nationwide, including two in Cincinnati area Less than a week before Kohl's Corp. welcomes new CEO Ashley Buchanan, the national retailer announced Thursday it would close 27 underperforming locations by April 2025, two of which reside in the Cincinnati region. Kohl's will close its stores in Blue Ash, at 4150 Hunt Road, and in Forest Park at 100 Cincinnati Mills Drive. An exact closing date was not disclosed, but the company in a news release said they would shutter by April.
May 21May 21 City council approves development agreement with Hillwood for Forest Fair MallexpandAt one time the largest mall in the region, Forest Fair Village – formerly known as Forest Fair Mall and Cincinnati Mills – is expected to be demolished.Corrie Schaffeld | CBCBy Brian Planalp – Staff reporter, Cincinnati Business CourierMay 21, 2025Updated May 21, 2025 12:43pm EDTForest Park City Council has approved a development agreement required for the sale, demolition and redevelopment of Forest Fair Village, formerly known as Forest Fair Mall and Cincinnati Mills.Forest Park City Council at its May 19 meeting unanimously approved the development agreement with Texas-based Hillwood, a Perot company and the mall’s prospective redeveloper, around two months after Fairfield City Council did the same.The mall straddles both communities.MORE
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