By AKRON, Ohio – The Chapel Hill Mall has been sold to a new owner and will be renovated into an industrial office park expected to create 400 jobs, according to the developer.
Industrial Commercial Properties, or ICP, finalized its purchase of the struggling mall on Akron’s North Side, the Solon-based company said in a news release. A spokeswoman for ICP said the company does not publicly disclose any sale prices.
The mall’s previous owner, Michael Kohan of the New York-based Kohan Retail Investment Group, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.
According to a development agreement with the city, ICP is slated to spend a combined $20 million on acquiring the property and the redevelopment project, including $6 million in renovations to the interior, exterior façade and landscaping. Construction is to begin in the spring and finish in 2026, the agreement states. ICP expects 400 new jobs at the completed site. “Our company has extensive experience with retail conversions and we believe Chapel Hill Mall is ideally positioned for redevelopment,” ICP owner Chris Semarjian said in a news release. “Our track record includes everything from repurposing freestanding big box retail stores to converting former indoor malls and retail power centers into business parks.”
ICP now owns 60 acres at the site on Brittain Road and Buchholzer Boulevard, including 829,000 square feet of mall space. That makes up virtually the entire property, except for the Storage of America self-storage facility. Thomas Fitzpatrick, vice president of development for the Indianapolis-based Storage of America, previously told City Council the self-storage facility on the north side of Chapel Hill Mall is one of the company’s most successful across the country, and the company wants to cooperate with Akron and the developer as the project moves forward. Click to read the entire article.
