Cincinnati Mills

Authored by Sherman Cahal at Abandoned on November 13, 2008

 

Seemingly doomed from its start, Forest Fair Mall was completed in stages from 1988 to 1989, and featured nearly 200 stores and four anchors. Located in northwest Cincinnati, it was one of the state's largest malls, and most impressive. That was one of its only positive highlights, however. The shopping center was completed for $50 million over budget and left the owner saddled with debt.

 

Not surprisingly, the builder, L.J. Hooker, declared bankruptcy only months after the complex was completed. In the years ahead, the mall was bought and sold, positioned and repositioned, and remodeled and shuttered. It was a high-end regional mall, and outlet center, and a retail and entertainment complex, although it it neither of those descriptors today. Today, it is known simply as Cincinnati Mills.

 

The mall struggles despite having several some successful outlots and several thriving stores, including Bass Pro Shops. For example, one of its last tenants in the eastern wing, Guitar Center, is departing. This leaves only two minor shops to fend for themselves in the most remote location of the shopping center, and it is doubtful that they will remain there for much longer.

 

What does the future hold for Cincinnati Mills? Not so much. It features two major tenants that are departing: Guitar Center and Steve and Berry's, and one entire wing that will essentially become vacant. Major redevelopment is needed at this site, although with the ever struggling economy, this may prove to be a bit of a challenge.

 

Here are some photographs from Cincinnati Mills, taken only several days ago:

 

The wing of the mall closest to Bass Pro Shops has considerably more stores than the remainder of the center.

 

Center Concourse

 

The concourse leading to Kohl's was entirely empty of any pedestrian activity.

 

The oldest segment of the mall is also the most empty. A Guitar Center store will soon close, leaving only two minor businesses remaining in one entire concourse.

 

 

Food Court

 

 

Be sure to check out the Cincinnati Mills page for a full text writeup and for more photographs!

echo, (echo, echo,)

You could hear a rat take a crap in there!

wow great photography.

 

as for the lame mall -- knock it down & move guitar center downtown!

1.5 million

.

I remember it being known as a great walkers mall as I grew up (when it was still known as Forest Fair Mall).  Everyone seemed to think that would change when it was renovated into the state it's in now...guess not.

There is one dedicated storefront that was cleaned out and is home to a fitness class that consists of moms walking their strollers in a circle.

 

One of the most depressing reuses I've seen in a mall to date.

Massive waste of space. Never had a chance

isnt it the largest indoor mall in the state, or something like that?  Yea, I always thought they did a good job on the renovation but there was never a chance.  Lets TEAR IT DOWN and turn it back over to nature.  Lets do that to the Golden Corral and Ryan's Steakhouse too.  Ugh! 

this is why suburbia is, by definition, unsustainable.  What in the world can possibly re-use this space?  Not much.  Just like all the large vacant Wal-marts.  Large spaces like that only serve a specific purpose and unfortunately that type of space ages quickly and if abandoned, has no hope.  This is what these morons get.  Good riddance.  (Super pissy here)

So pathetic - it was just renovated like 5 years ago lol

They did such a nice job on the renovation.  I wish that much money and effort was put into one of the more urban malls in the area.

My wife and I had been through right after the renovation and could not believe how few people were there.  We were walking with the marketing rep and she mentioned the cost of renovation, if I remember correctly the floors in some spot are hardwood and cost a fortune?  She was talking about the reinvention as a outlet mall, so now I guess I know how thats going for them.  There is a smaller less attractive mall about 5-10 minutes down the highway which doesn't help either. 

The interior is fun - I really liked that mall. I liked Steve and Barrys, Bass Pro Shop, Off 5th. I wish Tri-county and Northgate were never built. I wanted this mall to win. I was rooting for Cincinnati Mills! D@mn You Kenwood! D@mn you and your accessibility and wealth!!

That food court interior is just fugly - all those colors look like a frickin' clown exploded in there.

i kind of like the food court conceptually (picnic on the river), but whoever did the interior of that mall had absolutely no taste. it's so tacky, it's unreal.

I love it! It's so cheesey it works! Well..apparently it didn't but I blame the location and market oversaturation. I really liked their food court too :(

 

I know one thing they did wrong! They had a Tommy Hilfiger. Who the hell wore Tommy after 2001?

haha, that's one of the more recent occurrences, i wouldn't blame them for getting anything in there at this point. they screwed up by taking out time out. that place was off the chain. arcade, laser tag, ferris wheel, carousel, put put, movies.

I know one thing they did wrong! They had a Tommy Hilfiger. Who the hell wore Tommy after 2001?

 

Haha! An ex-bf. He had an excuse, though; he grew up in the Cleveland 'burbs.

 

He was still wearing it when I last saw him in '04. He was 48 then!  :laugh:

i kind of like the food court conceptually (picnic on the river), but whoever did the interior of that mall had absolutely no taste. it's so tacky, it's unreal.

 

The interior looks like any other mills location.  I had hoped that when Simon Properties bought the Mills company out of bankruptcy, Simon would do something (anything) to bring this mall back to life.

I loved Cincinnati Mills back when it was Forest Fair. I used to have a babysitter in the summers, and when I was about 10 or 11 on basically any rainy day she would take us to Forest Fair.  It was so cool back then too, huge arcade, mini golf (teenage mutant ninja turtle themed...), indoor bumper cars, laser tag, Feris Wheel, the super saver movies with the red and blue flashing lights, this really good snow cone place that was connected to a hotdog on a stick place. :-(

 

Also, Forest Fair used to have a good haunted house around halloween I think next to the old Golds Gym.  That area called "center concourse" used to have this wire contraption where these balls would travel through and trigger different things to happen, and underneath it was a giant sand pit that kids could play in.  Even then though, it was known as a walker mall and you would often see groups of moms walking their kids in strollers around the mall.

I loved Cincinnati Mills back when it was Forest Fair. I used to have a babysitter in the summers, and when I was about 10 or 11 on basically any rainy day she would take us to Forest Fair.  It was so cool back then too, huge arcade, mini golf (teenage mutant ninja turtle themed...), indoor bumper cars, laser tag, Feris Wheel, the super saver movies with the red and blue flashing lights, this really good snow cone place that was connected to a hotdog on a stick place. :-(

 

I have similar memories.

 

Almost every movie I saw growing up was at Super Saver; the aforementioned flashing lights and interior "disco club" lighting is hard to forget.

 

My favorite thing about Forest Fair was the ball machine. I could watch that thing for hours...and sometimes did. I will always blame the failure of Cincinnati Mills on the removal of the ball machine.

I find the concept of a "walkers mall" really depressing

If only it was just a few miles northeast...

 

Still, I think the mall's main problem was the fact that it did NOT steal away Dillards, Sears, Macy's, and the now-defunct JC Penney from Tri-County. The lack of practical, traditional, and well-known stores when they were all located less than 10 miles away in either direction on 275 was surely was caused the mall to fail.

 

Personally, I think that Tri-county should pack up and move over there, because it is by far the more aesthetically-pleasing mall. It is also newer, and the surrounding area is in better condition. If the mall ever got some decent stores that most everyone shops at (like Sears, Macy's, Elder-Beerman which it had at one time but was out of place, etc.), Tri-County would be dead.

 

Now we are just waiting for the day when a mall-like thing is built to serve the West Chester/Mason area that will kill Tri-County. I am looking forward to that day.

Now we are just waiting for the day when a mall-like thing is built to serve the West Chester/Mason area that will kill Tri-County. I am looking forward to that day.

 

umm...you are joking, right?

Nope. I'm sorry, but Tri-County gives me the creeps. Reminds me too much of Salem.

Tri County is a retail hub that extends well beyond the mall.  There are tons of plazas, shopping centers, restaurants, hotels, offices, and even the Sharonville Convention Center in that neck of the woods.  I don't think Tri County is going anywhere any time soon.  They need to revamp it a little, and try to steal back some of Kenwood's crowd, but I think it can be done.  In the 90's Tri County and Kenwood were basically of equal quality, with Tri County being the larger mall.  Kenwood has now gone upscale, and with the addition of Nordstrom and the new stores going in, I only see it going more in that direction, meaning Tri County can bill itself as the more affordable mall with the Sears and other stores of that ilk.

I loved Cincinnati Mills back when it was Forest Fair. I used to have a babysitter in the summers, and when I was about 10 or 11 on basically any rainy day she would take us to Forest Fair. It was so cool back then too, huge arcade, mini golf (teenage mutant ninja turtle themed...), indoor bumper cars, laser tag, Feris Wheel, the super saver movies with the red and blue flashing lights, this really good snow cone place that was connected to a hotdog on a stick place. :-(

 

I have similar memories.

 

Almost every movie I saw growing up was at Super Saver; the aforementioned flashing lights and interior "disco club" lighting is hard to forget.

 

My favorite thing about Forest Fair was the ball machine. I could watch that thing for hours...and sometimes did. I will always blame the failure of Cincinnati Mills on the removal of the ball machine.

 

I too could watch the mall machine for hours.  Now here's a question...what was the cooler mall feature, Forest Fair's ball machine, or Kenwood's sand sculptures?

ball machine

"Ball machine"?

 

I found some articles regarding Tri-County expanding in the early 1990s with a second level, and Lazarus (now Macy's) expanding, I suppose to give it some edge against Forest Fair.

ball machine

 

ball machine.

"Ball machine"?

 

http://ballmachinesculptures.com/aboutus.html

 

http://ballmachinesculptures.com/Rhoads_Catalog.pdf

 

ball machine

 

ball machine.

 

Turns out the name of the Ball Machine was "Ball Game"

I wonder if it exists somewhere; I'd be willing to travel.

I wonder if it exists somewhere; I'd be willing to travel.

 

and examine how far we've come since "Ode to Ludwig"

Wow, what a waste.  But it's also too bad it couldn't have been managed correctly.  We have malls here in Michigan that have fallen from greatness, but have become full of independently owned stores, with low rents.  It may seem like to the typical person "a failure" since it doesn't have your chain or high-end stores, but when you look at their actual sales/sq ft, they put most malls to shame.

 

But I do have to say, what a terrible renovation.  What is up with that flood court?  "Loy-dee-doy... make tiles look picnic blankets.......Picnic-on-the-river!!!"  It looks like a 7th grade art project. 

I think they tried really hard to make that mall family-oriented. They had a lot of arcades/play areas and various features for kids everywhere.

Someone in here said it was 60 percent but I'm assuming its much worse than that now. The entire main concourse only has two tenants.

 

Edit: went to the website - it was 66 percent vacant in 2007.

 

 

Cincinnati Mills is located on the 275 loop---so it is one of the suburban nightmare centers.  When it was Forest Fair, it was aimed at high-end shoppers.  Why on earth they built a large high-end mall away from the epicenter of high end consumers in Cincinnati is beyond me. 

 

Mills reincarnating it as an "outlet center" had potential, but Mills began struggling as a company not to long after Cincinnati Mills was completed.  Had it developed into a Sawgrass Mills (sunshine, florida a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale), I don't think we would be having this discussion.  But alas, it is becoming another mall destined for deadmalls.com.

It's a nice interior renovation. It's a little whimsical, but you certainly get the impression that it's a nicer facility than Tri-county.

 

But people can do all the market studies and analysis of parent company bankruptcy all they want. The problem is location location location.

 

People who live in-town and on the east side are obviously going to find Kenwood 10x more convenient. And if they choose to trek up to the beltway, they're going to go to Tri-county. Why travel the extra miles to Cincy Mills? I've never been to Northgate, but I presume the situation is the same. If you live out west, why pass the closer generic mall, to get to the next generic mall a few exits away? There's no reason.

 

 

This is what happened to during the late 80s mall building boom and when you let Aussies develop malls in suburban Cincinnati. The recession of 90-91 took out most of the main stores and it basically limped along for awhile. The saddest part is that the local community fought tooth and nail to stop it from being built. It was in an area that for a fleeting moment was a 'hot' 'burb, but not one of the longer term wealth areas (which are basically all within 5 miles of Kenwood.

Awesome shots!