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The city of Fairborn is exploring the possibility of demolishing the former Elder-Beerman building on Kauffman Avenue — a move that could pave the way for redevelopment along that corridor.
The 65,000-square-foot building, which has long been vacant, was condemned by the city earlier this year, but that condemnation recently expired, according to Chris Wimsatt, Fairborn’s economic development director.
The major issue with the building — located at 1122 Kauffman Ave. and part of the Skyway Plaza — is there is a large hole in the roof, and the property owner did not remediate the problem during the last three months, Wimsatt said.
“At some point, it becomes a safety concern,” he said. “When a building that large is not structurally sound, we’ve got a problem. We’re forced to do something.”
The property owner of the former Elder-Beerman building, Skyway Properties LLC, could not be reached for comment.
Wimsatt said the end result, at this point, is the building will likely need to be torn down, but when that occurs is unknown because of an anticipated lengthy legal process.
How much demolition would cost also is unknown, and it depends on if the entire plaza or just the former Elder-Beerman site would come down, Wimsatt said. The Skyway Plaza — which is two sections and boasts a total of about 175,000 square feet — has a 40 to 50 percent occupancy rate.
It’s traditional layout with a large parking lot in the front, the shopping center in the rear of the property and minimum outlots to drive traffic to the center works against it, Wimsatt said.
“From my perspective, there’s more economic development potential than what is being realized with that site,” Wimsatt said. “We all can see that. But we need to get this one piece of the puzzle figured out.”
In October 2012, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base permanently closed a mile-and-a-half stretch of Ohio 444 that bisected the base, citing security reasons, and rerouted Ohio 444 along Kauffman Ave.
Since the reroute, traffic has increased by as much as 23.5 percent at certain points on Kauffman Ave., according to Lee Harris, the city’s civil engineer.
That increase in traffic should only help the city’s efforts to revitalize that stretch of Kauffman Ave., said Paul Newman, executive director of the Fairborn Area Chamber of Commerce.
The first priority, he said, is the former Elder-Beerman building has to be torn down.
“You have to do some site preparation by taking something down and offering shovel-ready, good space to hopefully lure potential developers,” Newman said. “Once that happens, there’s a lot of potential. It could be a very good hot spot for us.”
Jeff Roberts, an agent for State Farm Insurance, moved his office from 45 N. Broad St. to 1074 Kauffman Ave. in May 2012 because of the impending Ohio 444 reroute. He said he saw a small spike in business when the reroute occurred, but since then, it’s leveled out.
Roberts’ vision for the Skyway Plaza is for it to be revitalized. But that will take an anchor tenant to stabilize what was once the hub of Fairborn, he said.
“It’s going to take a very strong central tenant,” Roberts said. “I really love the area where we’re at. At this point, I don’t have any plans to move.”
The municipal court is at 1148 Kauffman Ave. and the city owns the nearly 19,000 square feet of space — the only Skyway Plaza space not owned by a private entity. A Kauffman Ave. redevelopment eventually could lead to the relocation of the municipal court closer to the Government Center at 44 W. Hebble Ave.
The estimated cost to construct a new municipal court building is between $5.3 million and $6.2 million, according to a feasibility study conducted by Levin Porter Associates.
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