Monthly tenants in the Athens Mall on East State Street will have to move out by the end of the year because of redevelopment construction to the mall starting after Jan 1.
Mike Finn, managing partner in Chesapeake Realty Limited Partnership in Columbus, which owns the mall, said Chesapeake has been working on plans to redevelop the property, which was built in the 1970s, for some time.
Chesapeake is going to convert the old covered walkway building into a more up-to-date strip mall by creating separate entrances to all the stores, Finn said.
The new construction will allow stores to have more frontage seen by drivers going to Wal-Mart, Kroger and even University Mall, he said.
The development is going to create an enormous amount of construction and debris so month-to-month leasers will need to leave. The construction could take six months, but it might take longer, Finn said.
We feel it won't be fair to have them stay (with all the construction)
Finn said.
Stores with month-to-month leases include Rent 2 Own. Chesapeake wanted to give stores plenty of time to relocate, so they were notified more than 60 days before they have to move out, he said.
We have tried our best to let them stay through the holiday season Finn said.
Finn said Chesapeake would be working hard with stores and offices with longer leases like CVS pharmacy, Jo-Ann Fabrics, Sherwin-Williams Co. and the Social Security office throughout the construction to make temporary entrances to the stores.
Lynn Woomer, manager of Jo-Ann Fabrics & Crafts, 743 E. State St., said she is sure business will slow down during the construction, but people will come back because the store has what they need and the new set-up should help business in the long run.
I definitely think this mall needs re-done she said.
The East State Street construction did not influence the timing of Chesapeake's development, Finn said. The big driver was Ames, which takes up one-third of the mall's square footage, because Chesapeake had to wait until the space's lease was clear.
In the future the old Ames store may well be sub-divided into one or two smaller stores where some of the month-to-month leasers could move to, he said.
Ohio University owns the land and has leased it to Chesapeake for 80 years. There are still about 70 years remaining on the lease, said OU spokesman Jack Jeffery.
Although OU has input in what businesses can come to Athens Mall, the university has no say in tenant relationships, Jeffery said.
We try to do the right thing for community by keeping the city
state
and university all in the loop
Finn said.
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