Posted April 6, 200817 yr Not unlike any other American city, Springfield's downtown lost most of its life after the construction of an enclosed shopping mall at the city's edge. In Springfield, it was Upper Valley Mall in German Township. The city has been unsuccessful with annexing the mall, but that may be positive as the mall and surrounding commercial is significantly aged and on the decline. Interesting, new restaurant, big-box, and strip mall development is occurring on Bechtel Avenue across the highway from Upper Valley but inside Springfield city limits. In my fantasy world, I like to think the mall will someday be replaced with a new lifestyle center downtown. Upper Valley actually has decent traffic and good occupancy. One of the clerks told me the place has been "booming" since Steve and Barry's opened last year. Reminded me of Salem Mall when I was VERY young. Surely has to be planned The grand entrance Something new Inside Back Outside E-B appears to have been added later, in the late 80's/early 90's when they still would have been Dayton-based Surroundings
April 6, 200817 yr I don't think Elder-Beerman was added later. I think they took over the old Wren's department store space.
April 6, 200817 yr Whoa, I haven't been there in like 12 years. Looks the same LOL! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
April 6, 200817 yr This mall appears to be largely unmolested as compared to other malls of its vintage.
April 6, 200817 yr ^Yeah, I've seen a hell of a lot worse. I'm sure it's just a matter of time though.
April 7, 200817 yr Boring. I vote that we get every city to create shopping street similar to Newbury Street in Boston, State Street in Madison or Melrose Ave in LA. That's what shopping is all about. And none of this fakey lifestyle center crap.
April 7, 200817 yr Are we really sharing concerns that someone might alter this "thing?" One of my favorite mall alterations:
April 7, 200817 yr Well at least they didn't remodel it 3 years before it closed like you see sometimes.
April 7, 200817 yr Are we really sharing concerns that someone might alter this "thing?" One of my favorite mall alterations: ^^^ :clap: :clap:
January 8, 201510 yr Elder Beermans closed their anchor here last year. JCPenney announced yesterday that they were closing their Upper Valley store. Macy's announced today that they are closing their Upper Valley store. Sears is the only anchor left standing.
January 9, 201510 yr Well, looks like Fairfield Commons will get a boost. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
January 9, 201510 yr If y'all want to know the truth, the only reason these stores were still in the mall circa 2008 was because Simon owned it. It's a class C mall, in small demographic area, oversized for its population. Simon forced stores to operate there as part of their agreements to operate in other higher profile malls. Simon decided to finally give up it's game there about a year or two ago when it decided to stop paying it's taxes on the mall. That article is here: http://www.crenews.com/general_news/general/simon-poised-to-surrender-springfield-ohio-mall-to-cmbs-trust.html The Betchle Ave retail corridor is doing well, it's a solid mid market retail corridor akin to what you would find at Hilliard Rome Rd in Columbus, Bridgewater Falls in Hamilton, etc. but Upper Valley and the area surrounding hasn't been updated in over 20 years. To put it in perspective, the JCP in the mall was still using original displays from the 1970s and had burnt orange near shag carpet. The mall had been forgotten ages ago... And I doubt Springfield will be hurting without its presence. Call me crazy, but I'm betting someone builds an outlet mall along I-70 between Englewood and Springfield within the next 10 years to fill the void. With Salem and Upper Valley dead, there's a large retail void...
January 9, 201510 yr Elder Beermans closed their anchor here last year. JCPenney announced yesterday that they were closing their Upper Valley store. Macy's announced today that they are closing their Upper Valley store. Sears is the only anchor left standing. Well luckily Sears is in such good financial shape. I'm sure they'll stick around and carry the mall to continued success.
January 10, 201510 yr Honestly, the inline tenant list of this mall isn't that bad right now. Losing two anchors will likely change that though.
January 10, 201510 yr That it will. And again can 100% be attributed to Simon's management. So if Wet Seal for instance wanted to locate at Premium Outlets in Monroe, then Simon may require in their contract that they also locate at Upper Valley for the same length of time. They do this to keep all of their malls well occupied and at least marginally profitable. But Upper Valley is a dud of a mall in a dismal location, even within Springfield. It's out of the way on the other side of the interstate and out of most shoppers' memory. It's one time that locating outside city limits was a very bad strategic move. So Simon must have decided this mall was doing poorly enough that it wasn't even worth keeping as a low performer. Probably the county assessment lowering the mall's value by over half and the fact that no money had ever really been invested in the facility since it's opening day were the primary root causes. Look for all those stores to be bolting and running as soon as their leases are up. As for its future, I'm hoping someone else besides me thinks it's a great idea to relocate the Johnny Appleseed museum from Urbana University to one of the anchors and have a giant museum haha. Structurally it's fine and it's location is near invisible, so... I see little reason for demo and I can't wait to see its future!
April 4, 20169 yr I don't think Elder-Beerman was added later. I think they took over the old Wren's department store space. Actually the EB used to be a Woolworth, with a Woolworth-operated snack bar to the left of the main entrance, and a Harvest House cafeteria to the right. The old Wren's space was on the other side of Rike's, and became a Lazarus Kids and then an Old Navy. Last time I was there, the stylized W facade was still around the sealed up exterior entrance at the rear of the Old Navy.
April 4, 20169 yr That was the Wren's entrance then? Was the Macy's three level? And JCPenny? Something I didn't know was that the Macy's store, prior to its closing, was in the bottom 5% of performance for the entire chain. It was an easy cut. As for the mall's health - The children's museum is closing. It will leave the mall nothing but inline stores.
April 4, 20169 yr Whoops - it's still there. Independently owned too, so it could be attractive for Sears to move it into its own REIT and close it down.
April 5, 20169 yr That was the Wren's entrance then? Was the Macy's three level? And JCPenny? Something I didn't know was that the Macy's store, prior to its closing, was in the bottom 5% of performance for the entire chain. It was an easy cut. As for the mall's health - The children's museum is closing. It will leave the mall nothing but inline stores. Yes, the blocked up Old Navy entrance is the former Wren's exterior entrance. The Rike's / Shilito Rike / Lazarus / Macy's space is two-level with an escalator, but the rest of the mall is single level, including the JC Penney. The Sears is still there, but it's a ghost town. The last time I bought something there, we were the only customers in the entire store.
Create an account or sign in to comment