A bold plan for Midway Mall

Elyria Mayor Frank Whitfield and the Cleveland Clinic might have found a way to resuscitate the ailing Midway Mall. It's not a done deal, but the prospect that the mall could go from a near ghost town to a thriving "health and wellness and industrial innovation park" is exciting. If Whitfield can deliver — he seemed optimistic — it would be a huge step toward the transformational change he promised to bring to the mall when he ran for mayor in 2019. Whitfield acknowledged Monday, a day before his State of the City speech, that he was in talks with Cleveland Clinic to bring 50,000 square feet worth of medical offices to the mall. The plan is for the offices, which would create around 100 jobs, to focus first on children's and maternal health. The facility could expand from there. Whitfield told our reporter Kevin Martin that he'd eventually like to see it house a birthing center. That would be a huge win for Elyrians because the city lost its only birthing center when University Hospitals made the unfortunate decision to stop delivering babies in its Elyria hospital and relocate those services to Westlake. The Cleveland Clinic would serve as the anchor of a redeveloped mall that Whitfield envisioned eventually housing other businesses in 10 separate suites. It's still too soon to say what other tenants might set up shop, but the city wisely expanded the possibilities by rezoning the mall with a light industrial overlay in 2020. Although some demolition might be necessary, including at the dilapidated former Dillard's store, Whitfield told us he expected most of the old mall would be renovated to accommodate its new tenants. Only Johnny K's Powersports, which opened in 2018, would remain as a vestige of the mall proper's former life as a retail giant. Despite then-Mayor Holly Brinda's excitement about landing Johnny K's and Discount Fashion Warehouse, which moved into a nearby building, those additions failed to arrest the mall's slow descent into decay. Store after store closed. Whitfield told us Tuesday that its occupancy rate was less than 15 percent. That's not what most people would call a thriving shopping destination. Whitfield hoped some of the remaining stores would move to downtown Elyria. Those retailers should consider it, especially because downtown likewise appears to be on the cusp of a rebound. That's thanks in large part to an esports arena, apartments and restaurants envisioned by Grafton developer Kevin Flanigan. Whitfield also has correctly recognized that further work is necessary downtown and planned to devote further resources to it. There are still a lot of moving pieces that need to be nailed down with the mall project before work begins. For instance, ownership of the mall remains divided between Industrial Commercial Properties and the Namdar Realty Group, the latter of which has been reluctant to sell. Whitfield told us negotiations were focused on Namdar retaining ownership of its share of the mall with ICP operating it. The other big question is what incentives the city would deploy to help spur the mall's revitalization. Whitfield told us he planned to employ a form of tax incentive financing that would allow the city to take out a 30-year bond worth $4.5 million to give to those redeveloping the property. The developers would have wide latitude in how they spent those funds, he said. The TIF financing would need approval from City Council and the Elyria school board, although it's hard to envision their rejection of it if the development brings big benefits to the city. Given the latitude the developers would have in spending the money, however, Council and the school board should make sure they're comfortable with the plans before they approve the TIF. Importantly, Whitfield said the deal would be structured to protect the city's investment. If the project fell through, the developers would be required to repay the city for tax money they received through the TIF. Whitfield said he expected the deal would require the developers to spend somewhere between $15 million and $20 million, including the money from the TIF, over three to five years on the project. Whitfield has compared the mall to Elyria's front porch, albeit one that has seen better days. What's he proposing is far more than a fresh coat of paint. It's a full rehabilitation, and that sure sounds like just what the doctor ordered.