“There may be some deferred maintenance issues and capital improvement needs that will be identified and eventually addressed.”
The more than 1.4 million-square-foot mall went into bankruptcy in 2021 and has been in receivership since.
Mulherin said the community might not see immediate changes, “but that doesn’t mean we’re not actively and aggressively working on it.”
“We know it needs some improvements, and we’re figuring out exactly what those are, how much those cost and when we could implement them,” he said.
The Dayton Mall opened in 1970. It includes anchors JC Penney, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Macy’s, plus numerous big-name retailers, such as American Eagle, Bath & Body Works, H&M and Victoria’s Secret. Restaurants include Bravo Italian Kitchen, Chick-Fil-A, Outback Steakhouse and P.F. Chang’s.
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Mulherin said Hull, to stabilize the mall’s tenant mix, will immediately look to retain existing tenants and attract news ones. However, the process of doing so is made difficult by the fact many tenants have little lease term remaining.
“We really have to work hard to see who we can get to stay, and they may have already made other plans,” he said.
The Augusta, Georgia-based company has a retail property portfolio of more than 20 million square feet, including 37 enclosed shopping malls across 17 states.
Dayton Mall is Hull Property Group’s second enclosed mall in Ohio. In 2023, the company acquired Eastgate Mall in Union Twp. east of Cincinnati.
Mulherin said Hull plans to speak with all Dayton Mall stakeholders, including tenants, property owners on the mall parcel, neighboring businesses, area officials and community leadership.
“This is a very robust retail corridor, (and) the mall is very prominently positioned within that corridor,” he said. “We think no property acts as an island, it acts in conjunction with all the properties around it.”
Mulherin said Hull is “very interested” in participating in Miami Twp.’s update of the Miami Crossing District Master Plan and that he is scheduled to attend the first area committee meeting in November.
“Master plans (typically) show a community’s long-range plans and they may not always come out and look exactly like what has been depicted on paper, but what it does do is it gets everybody communicating,” he said. “We’re all in the same boat, and the goal is to get everybody rowing in the same direction.”
The “best part” of all that communication, he said, is opening up opportunities for all involved.
“We’re going to be speaking to a lot of different potential tenants, and if we can’t work it out with them, I’m going to call my neighbor and say, ‘I couldn’t work it out with (tenant) XYZ, but I’ve given them your number. Here’s their number. Why don’t you try to work it out with them?’” he said.
Mulherin said the mall struggles are not indicative of the Dayton-area community, but are rather part of a national trend where there’s “too much space, not enough tenants.”
Any recovery also will be gradual, and not immediate, and won’t see the mall resembling anything from decades past, Mulherin said.
“We’re not going to have the mall of our nostalgia years, but the work is to stabilize it so that we’re ready when the redevelopment opportunity presents itself,” he said.
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