Randall Park Mall

Randall Park Mall
Location 20801 Miles Road
North Randall, Ohio, United States
Opening date August 11, 1976
Closing date March 12, 2009 (Power cut off in late May 2009)
Developer Edward J. DeBartolo, Sr. (DeBartolo Corporation)
Owner Industrial Commercial Properties and Industrial Realty Group[1]
No. of stores and services 1
No. of anchor tenants 1 (4 vacant)
Total retail floor area 2,000,000 square feet (190,000 m2)
No. of floors 2
Website closed

Randall Park Mall was a shopping mall located in the village of North Randall, Ohio. Despite the mall's importance to the town - it is represented by the two shopping bags appearing in the municipal seal - Randall Park Mall closed on March 12th, 2009. Demolition began on the former Higbee's/Dillard's building on December 29, 2014.

History

In 1966, Dominic Visconsi proposed building Garfield Mall in nearby Garfield Heights. In 1968, voters gave their blessing to the project, and the next year a proposal was revealed. Garfield Mall was to have heated underground parking, and elevator and escalator access to stores such as: JCPenney, Sears, Higbee's, and Halle's. In 1971, there were rumblings that Youngstown developer Edward J. DeBartolo was to build a shopping-apartment-office complex nearby, so Garfield Mall was scaled down and the department stores slated for Garfield Mall instead signed with DeBartolo.

Randall Park Mall was built on the site of the Randall Race Track, a horse racing park immediately south of Thistledown Race Track. During construction, DeBartolo was very flamboyant; he would arrive at the construction site in a helicopter. During tours, he entertained the media with lavish Italian dinners of pizza and pasta from top chefs. DeBartolo envisioned Randall Park as a "city within a city", with the mall, boasting 200 shops, three 14-story apartments, two 20-story office buildings, and a performing arts center that was intended to compete with the Front Row Theater. At the time of its opening, it was the "world's largest shopping center",[2] although the title was short-lived. The mall's architect, Frank DeBartolo (Edward's younger brother), opened the mall with actress Dina Merrill in 1976. At the time of its opening, North Randall's population was 1,500 and the mall's employee population was 5,000.[3] The original department store anchors were Sears, JCPenney, May Company, Higbee's, and Horne's. Halle's maintained an option to build a store, but went out of business in 1982.

Great Northern Mall in the west side suburb of North Olmsted, opened at about the same time as Randall Park. Nearby Euclid Square Mall is also a product of the mid-1970s mall building boom.

Movie theaters

When it opened in 1976, Randall Park Mall had a three-screen cinema run by General Cinema Corporation. The theater's "lobby" was one storefront wide, with steep steps leading to the concession stand. The screens themselves were in three side by side auditoriums that opened off the concession stand level. More steps led up a second story to restrooms, the projection booth, and GCC office space. From the exterior, it appeared that a separate building had been grafted onto the rest of the mall.

The cinema became a second-run theater in 1991, and closed in 1993. After that, until the mall's closure, it was used as storage for Diamond's Men's Store, its adjoining neighbor. By the 2000s, Diamond's had extended their display window to include the theater's entrance, and the cinema's steep blue steps could still be seen by looking through a door in the display.

In 1999, Loews Cineplex Entertainment opened a 12-screen Magic Johnson Theatres in the space originally designated for the never-built Halle's anchor. The theater was sold by Loew's successor, AMC Theatres in 2007, becoming "O Theater" (with the slogan "O what a bargain!"). O Theater offered first-run movies at matinee prices, but its website and phone number were offline by late 2008 and the theater closed at some point after that.

Decline

JCPenney store was a 207,000-square-foot (19,200 m2), two-story store.[4] JCPenney converted to an outlet store format in October 1998, but closed in January 2001 due to falling sales.[4] Dillard's closed its Randall Park Mall Store in 2002, shortly after, but not related to, an incident in which a suspected shoplifter in the store died. An off-duty police officer, who was moonlighting as a security guard, apprehended a suspected shoplifter in Dillard's and injured him. The individual was treated in a hospital for injuries as a result of the incident but later died after he was released. By late 2003, about half the mall remained vacant, including the former Dillard's and JCPenney. In June 2007, it was announced that Cleveland-based trade school Ohio Technical College would acquire more than 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2) of space at the mall. The school's Power Sports Institute would occupy the former JCPenney and Firestone Complete Auto Care areas.[5] Macy's shuttered its Randall Park Mall store in March 2008 due to failing sales.[6]

On May 21, 2008, North Randall mayor David Smith announced that Whichard Real Estate had decided to close the mall by June 12, 2008. The few dozen small stores inside the sprawling, mostly empty, mall had until June 12 to close or move into empty storefronts on nearby roads. Burlington Coat Factory and Sears, which could be accessed from outside the mall, would stay open, as would the movie theater and Ohio Technical College's PowerSport Institute.[7]

County records showed the company owed more than $200,000 in unpaid property taxes, and had taken out multiple mortgages on the mall. On June 5, 2008, it was announced that Randall Park Mall was being sold for an undisclosed sum to United Church Builders. The deal was expected to be finalized in the next 30 to 90 days. Ken Geis, CEO of UCB, felt it could be best suited for housing, education, research, and medical operations. As of May 2009, UCB had not finalized the deal for the mall.

On February 26, 2009, Sears announced that it would close its Randall Park location, as part of an effort to close 24 under-performing Sears and Kmart locations across the country. This would be the last traditional anchor store to shutter its location at Randall Park. The store's last day of business was Sunday, June 14, 2009.

The last of the remaining small inside stores closed or moved out by March 12, 2009 (the date the mall closed), leaving the mall empty aside from Burlington Coat Factory, Ohio Technical College's satellite campus, and Furniture Mattress Liquidators, all of which have direct external access. All power to the mall was turned off in May 2009.

As of January 16th, 2015, Burlington Coat Factory had officially closed its doors to the public.

In March 2014, it was announced that the vacant mall would be demolished for an industrial park.[8] Property transfer occurred mid-July of that year;[9] demolition began the following December 29.[2][10]

Randall Park Mall, 2014
Randall Park Mall, 2014

LaSalle Furniture closed on Halloween of 2016, leaving PowerSport Institute as the only business left.

Demolition

Demolition of the mall began December 29, 2014, on the former Higbee's/Dillard's anchor store, followed by the mall interior. The demolition and excavation company Sitetech Inc. of Grafton, Ohio was hired to do the work. As of July 2015, only the former anchor buildings (excluding the former Dillard's) remain standing.

Fire

On May 5th, 2016, calls came into the North Randall Fire Department for the former Magic Movie Theater. Five surrounding agencies were dispatched to the theater. Fire was ruled arson by North Randall Fire Department.[11]

Former anchors

References

  1. ↑ Thomas, Corwin (November 7, 2004). "Randall Park Mall’s new owner seeks to sell attached Loews movie theater". The Plain Dealer. p. G4.
  2. 1 2 Smith, Aaron (December 30, 2014). "Once the world's biggest mall is being torn down today". CNN Money. CNN. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Randall Park: Is It Savior Of The Super-Regional Idea?". Chain Store Age. May 1976. pp. 25–26.
  4. 1 2 Lubinger, Bill; O'Donnell, Patrick (March 16, 2000). "On Heels of Revival, Randall Park Mall to Lose J.C. Penney". The Plain Dealer. p. A1.
  5. ↑ Gomez, Henry J. (June 19, 2007). "Ohio Technical buys Randall Park property". The Plain Dealer.
  6. ↑ "Macy's closing nine stores". Louisville Business First. December 28, 2007.
  7. ↑ Jarboe, Michelle (May 21, 2008). "Randall Park Mall to close by June 12". The Plain Dealer.
  8. ↑ Ziegler, P.J. (March 19, 2014). "Big Plans: Randall Park Mall to be Transformed". WJW-TV.
  9. ↑ Jarboe, Michelle (December 27, 2014). "Randall Park Mall demolition will start Monday, as village bets on industrial park". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
  10. ↑ Jarboe, Michelle (December 29, 2014). "Randall Park Mall demolition under way, as crew tears into former Dillard's store". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
  11. ↑ Taylor, Lorrie (June 5, 2016). "Randall Park Mall fire: Arson investigated at old Magic Johnson Theater". WJW-TV. Retrieved December 5, 2016.

Coordinates: 41°25′54″N 81°31′52″W / 41.431691°N 81.531086°W / 41.431691; -81.531086

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