CUYAHOGA FALLS: It will be four years next week since Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Donald L. Robart climbed into an excavator to take down the former State Road Shopping Center.
Signaling Robart with the words, “Let’s blow this place up,” was Robert Stark, a Cleveland-based developer.
Stark was introduced at a news conference, May 14, 2009, as the man behind a new retail plaza for the State Road property: Portage Crossing.
The city had purchased the 26-acre strip mall — minus the outlots, which were not deemed blighted — for $10 million in 2008, after filing eminent domain action against its owners in Summit County Common Pleas Court.
By that time, the once-lauded shopping center had become an eyesore. The buildings were in need of repair and renovation; most of the businesses had moved out.
Once the city owned the property, Falls Development Director Sue Truby sent out 60 packets to developers, trying to interest someone in the project.
By the deadline, she received replies from four.
After a process that included an outside consultant, Stark was chosen as the developer in what would be a public-private partnership. He came to Cuyahoga Falls with a promising resume. Among his developments are Crocker Park in Westlake and The Strip in Jackson Township.
Initially, renderings of Portage Crossing included housing and retail, like Crocker Park.
Truby said the project changed to all retail when they couldn’t sell the mixed-use concept.
“I couldn’t get anyone on council to support it,” she said.
But Stark couldn’t start working without an official agreement with the city.
The public was invited Jan. 4, 2010, as city council got its first look at the Portage Crossing agreement and heard Stark’s vision for the property.
Finally, last week, a deal was signed.
Financing will be secured through bonds to be held by the city and repaid through an Ohio program called “payment in lieu of taxes,” or PILOT.
The Cuyahoga Falls Board of Education had to agree because it will receive less in property taxes — 22 percent instead of 61 percent — until the remaining $7 million of the $11 million purchase price of the shopping center and BP station is paid.
On Tuesday, Huntington Bank wired $3.7 million to the city — the purchase price of the 26 acres that used to be State Road Shopping Center. The money was placed into a special fund from which Stark Enterprises can draw for construction costs.
Stark also paid half of the cost of the BP property on the north corner of Portage Trail and State Road and purchased other property that expanded the project.
On Friday, three days after ownership of the property was transferred to Stark’s company, heavy equipment operators began grading the land.
Before snow starts to fly, construction of the buildings that will face Portage Trail on both sides of the street should be well underway.
Work will begin on the footprints of the Giant Eagle Market District grocery store and Cinemark theater.
Delays for project
The deal was a long time coming, but neither Robart nor Truby ever thought delays would doom the project.
Truby said the project is only one year behind its anticipated schedule. The initial agreement with Stark was signed in February 2010. Getting Falls schools on board took an additional three months.
Signing Menards, only to have the owner of the outlots back out of a deal to sell the land under an existing Pizza Hut for $275,000 and instead demand more than $3 million left Stark’s team scrambling to design a work-around. When that didn’t work, the Stark team found Cinemark — a much smaller business — to take the north anchor spot.
Between that and discovering a new Environmental Protection Agency rule regarding detention ponds, the project was set back a year, Truby said.
To recover from the new expenses and loss of future income from Menard’s, Stark asked for and received an electric rebate and the city’s portion of entertainment taxes from the movie theater — about $175,000 annually for 10 years.
There is talk of Menard’s buying the Graham Road property that currently houses Giant Eagle, once the Market District opens. Robart wants that to happen, but there is no news publicly from either Menard’s nor Giant Eagle at this time.
Truby said the discussion is between Stark and Menard’s.
Speaking to a full house at the January 2010 meeting, Stark said the most important part of the development was a state-of-the-art grocery store as an anchor.
“There’s going to be a revolution in how we shop — the quality of the food — and we’re going to lead the way,” he said.
It could be a store new to the area, or one, such as Giant Eagle or Acme, already in the area and ready to upgrade, he said at the time.
“The supermarkets that we see as conventional are stepping up to present the kind of food experience we all want to have that is so fundamental to the communal experience,” Stark said. “You’ve got to eat, and you can have fun while you shop.”
Another grocery store
Some council and audience members were cynical.
The property is nearly surrounded by grocery stores, with Giant Eagle across the street to the north, Marc’s to the west and Acme a few blocks away to the south.
How would another grocery store entice people to shop at Portage Crossing?
That answer might have come Wednesday, with the announcement of a Giant Eagle Market District store set to anchor the south side of the retail complex.
Columbus customers who shop at the New Albany location and posted reviews at Yelp.com describe the store as “the Disneyland of grocery stores” and “Whole Foods minus the insane prices.”
Store construction will begin as soon as Stark Enterprises can complete the pad, expected to happen by the end of March. Store officials plan to open by the end of next year.
Originally, Giant Eagle asked for some incentives to join Portage Crossing, Robart said. But the city was leery because of the tenuous nature of the long approval process.
“I don’t know if it’s still an outstanding question for them,” Robart said. There are no current requests for incentives from the grocer.
Stark has come a long way toward fulfilling his promise, Robart said.
“The presence of the Market District will pique the interest of other [businesses] that may want to come to the plaza, including stores that may have backed out before,” he said.
Beacon Journal staff writer Betty Lin-Fisher contributed to this report. Gina Mace can be emailed at ginamace2@gmail.com.