ICP to pay $17 million for Midway Mall; part of $42 million total investment

The Lorain County Port Authority Board of Directors voted unanimously on Wednesday to sell the Midway Mall to Industrial Commercial Properties of Cleveland for $17 million. Director Jim Miller said the Port Authority will use that money to repay the county the $13.9 million loan it took out to buy the 58-acre property in January 2023. ICP will invest another $25 million in the property to help attract future tenants, Elyria Mayor Kevin Brubaker said. It is expected the project will bring in 400 jobs with $18 million to $20 million in payroll, Miller said. Amy Richards, chairwoman of the Board of Directors, said it was a "tough choice" between ICP and The Center for Food Innovation, the other finalist up for consideration. The Center for Food Innovation, backed by The Gateway Group that developed Cleveland's Gateway District, Progressive Field and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, envisioned "The Garden," a mixed-use development of indoor vertical farms and outdoor greenhouses; cold storage, food processing and distribution businesses; residential, restaurant, educational and retail space. Officials including Miller and Brubaker said there were many discussions about what to do with the property. Brubaker called the choice "very outstanding" and said he was thankful and grateful that the Port Authority involved him in its discussions as a representative of the city. Brubaker was "overboard happy" with the choice of ICP, he said following Wednesday's meeting. ICP has "a history of overachieving," Brubaker said, when it comes to developing property. "It's their forte, it's what they're good at," he said. He said the development is likely to have a positive effect on the areas surrounding the mall, including a number of storefronts and strip malls around its edges. Brubaker said the redevelopment of the mall is among about $100 million in redevelopment happening around the mall property in the near future, including a new 96-unit hotel by the owner of the Courtyard by Marriott Cleveland bringing in $9.5 million of investment. Then there's the proposed 55-acre Reaser Pointe Crossing development on the city's southeast side, featuring more than 400 homes and expected to bring $150 million to $200 million in development. "There's a lot to be happy about in the city of Elyria," he said. Among the success stories ICP touts on its website are Goodyear World Headquarters in Akron, the former American Greetings headquarters in Brooklyn, the former Randall Park Mall in North Randall that became an Amazon fulfillment center, and multiple former Ford and Chevrolet plants in Ohio. Miller said the next step is to work with the board's attorneys to draft a purchase agreement with ICP. The Port Authority received four proposals for redevelopment by its Oct. 25, 2023, deadline. The original four were ICP, The Center for Food Innovation, and developers Scannell Properties and DiGeronimo Development. DiGeronimo dropped out of the running, and the Port Authority board chose ICP and The Center for Food Innovation as finalists in February. The Port Authority is landlord to the few remaining stores in the mall. It also owns the portions of the mall that used to be Sears, Sears Auto Center and Dillard's, while ICP already owns the former Best Buy building. The initial ICP proposals included a joint venture with the Port Authority for the entire nearly 58-acre site for the creation of a multi-tenant business park within the existing mall buildings, or a $100 million investment that would have seen all the former mall buildings demolished and the area completely redeveloped from the ground up. When it came to a joint venture, "we weren't really looking for that," Miller said. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.