“Downtown Mason is for sale,” he said.
Malhotra says he has abandoned plans for creating an art mecca on West Main Street and now plans to turn his energies to the east side of Mason-Montgomery Road. One of the signs is in the window of the former Sweet Art of Mine gallery in the middle of the main block on West Main. Pop Revolution Gallery & Framing, another gallery that lives in one of Malhotra’s buildings just east of Mason-Montgomery Road, is still hanging on.
Mason invested more than $5 million on a new plaza and streetscape on the west end of Main Street but Malhotra said that end of the main drag isn’t viable.
“The heart of the city is on the other side,” he said. “Where they put all the money the structure is not very good. I tried to develop it, clean it up, get the VFW out, but I can’t develop anything there. It’s like building a Taj Mahal next to all these slums.”
Malhotra is refurbishing a building he just bought on the east side, where he plans to relocate his real estate offices. He would like to turn the whole block over into the art mecca he has always dreamed of. So what’s to become of the west side? Councilman David Nichols, who heads the economic development committee, said maybe this is an opportunity.
“It’s upsetting to see for sale signs in businesses that were working,” he said. “At the same time, given the free market conditions, when one business chooses to go in a different direction, it opens up opportunities for other businesses.”
He said he doesn’t know the answer to fixing downtown. Other council members have said it is no longer the city’s responsibility because they have invested all they are going to invest.
Mark Davis, principal at Hi-Five Development, the firm that renovated the old municipal building on the north side of West Main Street, said since the city beautified downtown the landowners likely have an inflated perception of their property’s value.
For example, the total asking price for Malhotra’s five buildings on West Main is $1.2 million. But Davis said a developer would only consider the value of the land — because the buildings likely would be razed — which in this instance totals $137,240, according to the Warren County Auditor’s website.
“I think one of the unintended consequences of making the street much more attractive with better utilities and the town square, is the perceived value of the folks who currently own property has gone way up, making it much less likely that anything will change with those properties for a fairly long period of time,” he said.
Ramesh said he has had some interest in the buildings that are up for sale.
Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4525 or dcallahan@coxohio.com.
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