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Toledo: Southwyck Redevelopment

Guest mrnyc
Guest mrnyc
in Northwest Ohio Projects & Construction

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There's actually a lot of development out by fallen timbers, go check it out on mapquest.. it's been gradually building up since ft was first constructed, and the newly redone trail is sparking development from waterville to whitehouse.. that whole area is on a big upswing..

 

I think it's safe to say downtown perrysburg is alive n well, and levis continues to grow, slowly than planned, but it's getting there..

 

Not sure what development you wrote about - there have been some new housing starts out by that area, but I don't think another building has been constructed at S@FT since one of those national chain restaurants, PF Chimichanga or Donaldo Fujimura's or something. Seems like there are a lot of empty stores in the complex too.

Was talking about all the housing around there.. some commercial has sprung up between waterville and whitehouse

something like crocker park or the greene lifestyle mall type developments would be a good fit for that property. except as a hybrid with more emphasis on housing and business sites and less on retail.

  • 1 month later...

One of the big problems with Southwyck and that Southwest Toledo annex area is that it wasn't fully built out until the 1960s and 1970s. It is designed for cars. This really limits its potential without major infrastructure changes. The streets are wide, and though Toledo does a good job with crosswalks and sidewalks (Lucas County in general seems better than normal with that compared to other metro area's suburban districts), it just isn't walkable. It would take a sea change to ever make it walkable. This would require public money that Toledo/Lucas County just doesn't have.

 

Toledo has a lot of momentum right now in core neighborhoods like Downtown/Warehouse District/Uptown, and signs of stabilization are being seen in Vistula, Lagrange, Old West End, East Toledo, and Old South End. I don't think Toledo's population will drop much below 275,000 people by the 2020 census. There may even be a slight turnaround by then due to all of the recent urban core housing developments. Where the big losses are likely to be seen is in mid-century suburban annex areas like Southwyck along with the continuing depopulation of West-Central Toledo (now Toledo's worst urban slums). Maumee also seems to have recently lost a lot of population (maybe a latent effect of the Ford plant closure?). So Southwyck is basically at the end of a string of declining neighborhoods stretching from West-Central Toledo to Maumee. There is a long line of urban and suburban slums along Airport Highway that is going to be tough to turn around any time soon. That is now arguably the hardest area of Toledo to redevelop. It is car dependent, and even at its peak, it never had anywhere near the density of Toledo's urban core neighborhoods or stuff closer to the Maumee River. Southwest Toledo also lacks anchor institutions. At least further north by UT, the university can be a major impetus for urban infill in the far west side. While MUO is not far from Southwyck, like many hospitals, it's an island with zero urban development around it.

 

*I feel at least part of the new focus on the urban core is due to crime drops in the greater downtown area and first ring urban neighborhoods. The urban core feels a little safer than it did five years ago. At the same time, it seems like crime may be increasing in second ring and outer neighborhoods of Toledo. The Southwyck area is really dismal right now, and the loss of that big hotel makes it feel even more dead. It's tough to imagine much investment there...

 

Reynolds Road and Airport Highway are just depressing and ugly. With all this said, the location is still superior to Fallen Timbers and much more centered for metro Toledo's population. Though I'd argue Southwyck can't be redeveloped with retail unless Fallen Timbers goes under. Malls are dying nationwide and there is only room for one big retail center in the southwestern metro area...

 

Just out of curiosity, how is Springfield's Spring Meadows doing?

  • 1 month later...

I don't get out to Spring Meadows often but it seems to be keeping up okay. Stores go out of business occasionally but seem to be replaced with other popular stores, and there's lots of new external restaurants like ChikFilA, Starbucks, Panda express, and others popping up so it's doing okay.

 

From the time it was proposed, I thought Fallen Timbers was a bad idea. They thought it would thrive off the growth in that end of the county but while being near a lot of booming suburban residential growth, it still manages to feel like it's in the middle of the countryside. Anymore it really just exists as a quicker, uncrowded alternative to Franklin Park. They didn't design it well though. As a "lifestyle center" outdoor mall thing, Levis Commons is more aesthetic, feels more like a dense, vibrant little downtown where FT feels really open and wide and drab. I think the main full service restaurants at FT are Granite City, PF Changs, and Tilted Kilt.....if they're all still there.

 

Franklin Park is really the only mall the city needs in this day and age. It keeps up with renovations and additions and is always packed.

  • 5 months later...

 

Toledo offers Southwyck to Amazon in bid for HQ2

The contest for Amazon's HQ2 is on and Toledo's bid for the massive, well-paying employer is a $780 million incentive package that includes tax exemptions, the land where Southwyck Shopping Center once stood in South Toledo, and 521 acres in the city of Maumee.

As a way to strengthen the proposal, Toledo officials said they included Maumee, and land around the Shops at Fallen Timbers, in its bid for Amazon to locate a new headquarters in the area.

http://www.toledoblade.com/business/2017/10/19/Toledo-s-bid-for-HQ2-worth-780-Million.html

Im glad we made an attempt, as unlikely as it is we would ever win. For starters, we dont even meet the 1 million population mark that Amazon desires for a new home city. We also dont have an international airport, which I imagine isnt very impressive. And while I love Toledo and think its making great progress in its revitalization downtown, were still far from being the large, progressive, cosmopolitan, hip, city that I imagine Amazon sees itself setting up shop in....especially when it comes to where theyre employees would want to live and work.

 

But like I said, it never hurts to try. Cant win if you dont play.

  • 1 year later...
  • 4 months later...
On 8/22/2019 at 12:40 AM, TwoStickney419 said:

https://www.toledoblade.com/business/development/2019/06/12/city-considers-new-plan-for-former-southwyck-shopping-center-site/stories/20190612125

 

City considers new plan for former southwyck shopping center

 

I kinda agree with the plans they have now. I never thought Southwyck would have any future as some of the things people had suggested or hoped for in the past, like a lifestyle center type of mall, IKEA, or even a park. The desire just isnt there. As the article said, it's a dead area. Plenty of people still live in the area, but it's just as easy for them to cruise down the street to the newer businesses in Maumee off Conant and Dussel. It's just seen its day and is a victim of being old news when it comes to suburban sprawl. I've always figured the best we could hope for there would be more apartments or office buildings along Southwyck Blvd, and maybe some new smaller shopping plazas fronting Reynolds Rd. 

 

The idea of light industrial (nothing ugly or pollutive) probably is the best bet. The sites accessibility to the turnpike is its asset. A distribution center would make a lot of sense there for sure. People finally realized that the Northtowne Mall site off Alexis had no real commercial viability either. It makes the most sense for industrial as well being in a unfashionable outdated business corridor.

Edited by Tobias C

    • Like 1
    7 hours ago, Tobias C said:

     

    I kinda agree with the plans they have now. I never thought Southwyck would have any future as some of the things people had suggested or hoped for in the past, like a lifestyle center type of mall, IKEA, or even a park. The desire just isnt there. As the article said, it's a dead area. Plenty of people still live in the area, but it's just as easy for them to cruise down the street to the newer businesses in Maumee off Conant and Dussel. It's just seen its day and is a victim of being old news when it comes to suburban sprawl. I've always figured the best we could hope for there would be more apartments or office buildings along Southwyck Blvd, and maybe some new smaller shopping plazas fronting Reynolds Rd. 

     

    The idea of light industrial (nothing ugly or pollutive) probably is the best bet. The sites accessibility to the turnpike is its asset. A distribution center would make a lot of sense there for sure. People finally realized that the Northtowne Mall site off Alexis had no real commercial viability either. It makes the most sense for industrial as well being in a unfashionable outdated business corridor.

     But the Southwyck site is surrounded by offices and housing, unlike Northtowne or Woodville - the other dead malls in the metro area. Some kind of mixed use distribution, commercial, residential, office mix would work best there. A lot of the surrounding retail and office space is occupied - albeit different than during Southwyck's heyday. I disagree with the article that it's a "no-man's land" - that's a racist dig at the area's growing African-American population. 

    • Like 1

    Theres a couple new things being built on Reynolds, near the old mall site but not actually on it.. *actually think 1 of the properties atleast touches the boundary for the old southwyck lot..   not sure what they are, but nothing huge. 

     

     

    Not only does the southwyck area compete w maumee, but also the airport hwy Holland meadows areas..  

    • Like 1
    • 2 months later...

    i cant believe someone paid over $3M for that site.

     

    it has to be amazon fulfillment center part two.

     

    regardless, its good news to hear at long last.

     

    hopefully its more than one thing.

    • 4 weeks later...
    9 hours ago, TwoStickney419 said:

    https://www.toledoblade.com/business/development/2020/04/06/amazon-submits-plans-for-delivery-station-to-plan-commission/stories/20200406102

     

    Amazon submits plans for delivery station to plan commission 

    I know this site has been empty for almost a decade, but I still think this plan is a waste of prime urban space. From a regional commercial destination to a warehouse mostly surrounded by parking and employing only 10 people full time, maybe 100 part time...maybe Toledo could not have done better than this, I dunno. 

    • Like 2
    • 1 month later...

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