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Salem Mall site plan unveiled

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By Doug Page, Staff Writer Updated 10:00 PM Monday, November 30, 2009

TROTWOOD — During almost a decade of fiscal hardship, city leaders have held fast to a vision of creating a new destination from the old Salem Mall site.

"This is not pie in the sky. This is hard work," Mayor Darreyl Davis said Monday night, Nov. 30, in unveiling the latest concept for 32 weed-choked acres that was once the shopping destination for the Miami Valley.

"How are we going to transform ourselves," Davis asked the more than 150 people gathered in the Trotwood-Madison High School commons area. "By creating a vibrant destination point."

The concept, unlike earlier visions, relies less on retail and more on office parks, commercial development, residential, and green spaces and parks.

"A big part is a recreation element for the community, making the development more of a destination," said Mike Lucking, city manager.

The concept includes a city hall building, a library and a community center. "This needs to have a public element to demonstrate the city's confidence in the development," Lucking said.

"The conceptual design is an attempt to come up with a market-driven plan," City Manager Mike Lucking said prior to the unveiling.

"Is it realistic to do this now? I don't know," Lucking said. "We don't have the money right now."

"We're not talking about the past," the mayor said. "We're talking about the future.

There have been several plans for the Salem Mall site.

When it opened in 1966, the mall was the first in the area and became the place to shop in the Miami Valley.

"I moved here just as the mall was opening," said Ruth Lang of Trotwood, one of the more than 150 people who attended the Monday night, Nov. 30, unveiling of the latest conceptual plan for the 32-acre site. "People flocked her from all over.

"Now, if I want to buy good clothes, I either go to Huber Heights or Indiana."

Such was the fate of the mall.

With the later openings of the Dayton Mall and the Mall at Fairfield Commons, shoppers had more choices. By the late 1990s, safety became a perceived concern at the Salem Mall with groups of young people often clashing.

In 1995, the mall's 91 stores employed 1,940 people. Two years later, two of the anchor stores, JCPenney and Lazarus closed their doors. In 2005, after a year of negotiations, the city bought the mall for $3.5 million and demolished the structure in 2006.

The original plan was to build a new city center, revolving around a traditional mall. The Landmark project fell prey to the economic downturn.

The new concept is much less retail-intensive. "The Landmark project would have been developed all at once," said Lucking. "This will be a much more phased development driven by market conditions."

The concept has six development phases, but no timeline.

As a concept, the new city center will have:

65,000 square-feet of retail
180,000 square-feet of office space
210,000 square-feet of public buildings
5.9 acres of residential

City leaders called the conceptual plan a first step. The second step would be defining costs, getting public input, developing a marketing strategy and development designs.

There is no timetable for the second step, Lucking said.

While the concept plan shows some development on the site of the current Sears store, Lucking emphasized the city would be building around the retailer and was not attempting to force it out.

"If anything, we'd love to see them expand or build a new store," he said.

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