Two Athens men have placed a bid to purchase University Mall and expect to find out in the next week whether their proposal was chosen.
Brent Hayes and Tom Parfitt, who each own several other businesses in the area, could not release the amount they offered in the sealed bid for University Mall on East State Street. They were told that Random Properties Acquisition Corp., the mall's current owner, also is considering a bid from a Chicago company, Parfitt said.
We've jumped through all the hoops that they've asked us to
so now we're just waiting to find out who wins the bid, he said.
Mike Guggenheim, president of Cleveland-based Guggenheim Realty & Associates -- the group working to sell the property for the owner - said the process of closing on the property could take up to three months.
But Hayes said he and his business partner plan to close the deal quickly if they win the bid in order to begin work to structurally and aesthetically improve the mall. Roofing repairs, parking lot renovations and landscaping are among his short-term plans for the building.
The 278,000 square-foot mall property includes the former Big Bear grocery store, which is being renovated and transformed into an 11-screen movie theater scheduled to open next month, Parfitt said, adding that the two Athens men renovating that facility will be leasing it from the mall's new owners. Parfitt said he and Hayes have talked with several big stores including a few retailers and a restaurant, and hope to attract the kind of businesses that will appeal to a younger crowd.
It's all about bringing people to the mall he said. It's depressing when you walk in there now.
In addition to turning a profit and helping the local economy, the pair wants the mall to appeal more to area residents. Tom and I think that we could turn the thing around because we're both local
Hayes said. We like to think that we know what's going on in the area and what things would do the area some good.
The change in ownership has caused concerns for participants in the Athens Farmers Market, the produce market that operates two days a week in the mall parking lot. Hayes and Parfitt agreed that they would allow the market to continue operating in the parking lot because they understand its importance to area residents.
Market manager Dave Gutknecht said he is optimistic about working with whoever becomes the new owner of the property, but he also said he feels local owners would be more supportive of keeping the market open.
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Kantele Franko
