Eastland Mall to close this week after 54 years in Columbus

Eastland Mall, an East Side landmark for more than five decades and once a shopping mecca for Greater Columbus residents, has shut down.

"The mall is closing," said Pete Shipley, a spokesman for Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein.

Local lawyer Adam Beane, who represents the mall's owner, Eastland Mall Holdings LLC of New Orleans, said it is ownership's intent to have all businesses out of the mall by Saturday.

Northland Mall:20 years since mall's closing, the area is making a comeback

Beane said Eastland's owners plan to demolish the mall and are talking with city officials about how the site could be redeveloped.

Mike Stevens, Columbus' development director, said Thursday that Eastland Mall Holdings LLC had reached out to city officials in October about closing the mall.

"We asked them to keep it open through the end of the year for merchants," Stevens said.

He said the city's small-business team has been reaching out to business owners to help them relocate.

Timeline:Eastland Mall through the years: 1966-2022

An Oct. 21 letter from Stevens to a representative for the owner in Louisiana said it is important that Eastland Mall Holdings talk with community members about what they would like to see for the property.

"We encouraged them to engage with the community and neighborhood," Stevens said Thursday. He said they need Mid-East Area Commission approval for the demolition and said the owner needs to provide a detailed redevelopment plan.

"We haven't seen a lot of investment at that site by the owner," Stevens said. "We need to be cautious approving demolition."

In his October letter, Stevens said the property owner needs to work with city departments to ensure future development includes public priorities, such as affordable housing, job creation, green spaces and access to transportation.

Eastland stores clearing out

The mall's last day was to be Saturday, but a water line break Monday forced the closure Tuesday, according to a security guard stationed at the mall Wednesday afternoon.

Rika Gaston and Kquaon Hansard were helping to empty one of the fashion stores for their friends Wednesday afternoon, although when asked, they couldn't name the store.

They both lamented the mall's closure, though.

"Seeing Eastland growing up, it's going to be a change of scenery," said Hansard, 20, of the South Side.

Gaston, also 20, said Eastland's closing means people will have to travel farther to shop.

"I live right down the street. I'm going to have to drive 20 minutes to Easton now," Gaston said.

Battalion Chief Jeffrey Geitter, Columbus Division of Fire spokesman, said fire crews responded to the mall Monday after water lines broke, and water has been shut down to part of the mall. He said the mall has posted a fire watch through Friday.

Tina Fleisher, an owner of the Jones Fire Foods restaurant, was moving things out of that space Wednesday afternoon. She and the other owners opened that space in January after being in another part of the mall beginning in 2020.

Eastland Mall recent health and safety issues

Another owner, Darnell Jones, said there were sewage backups at the previous location in the mall. She said the owners claimed they were going to make $1 million in improvements to the mall. "Broken promises," she said.

In July, Franklin County Environmental Judge Stephanie Mingo declared the mall a nuisance after the city's attorney's office filed health and safety violations against its owners in March.

Mingo ordered that the mall's owner make repairs, including fixing parking lot potholes, removing litter and waste, cutting grass and weeds, cleaning graffiti and repairing broken lights and concrete.

On Thursday afternoon, the interior of the mall was chilly as tenants continued to move out their goods. Water poured from a broken water line in the food court, spilling out of wastebaskets and dousing the tiled floor.

The mall's anchor stores, including Macy's, Sears and JCPenney, closed years ago.

But homegrown businesses and some national retailers had remained. That included Valentino's, a clothing store, which Walee Eldin owned and operated for seven years. On Thursday afternoon, his store was still full of clothes. He said he hasn't been able to find a new space.

"Rents are high," he said. "We wanted to stay here."

Eldin, a Dublin resident, said he wonders if the owner would spend the millions it would take to demolish the mall. He pointed out the long vacant Westland Mall, still standing.

Kenithia Hill owned and operated SoSo Me Beauty at Eastland for about a year and a half, selling clothes and makeup products.

"The first seven months were terrific," she said. But then the judge ruled the mall was a nuisance. After that, she said, business was terrible.

Hill said she had to deal with a ceiling cave-in because of leaks in the mall's roof. She moved out at the end of November and is now at the Mall at Tuttle Crossing on the Northwest Side.

Curtis Thacker of Sunbelt Rentals was moving out heating units Thursday. Thacker, 42, of the South Side remembered coming to Eastland and Westland malls often while growing up. He wondered where people who live nearby would go to shop.

What does the Eastland Mall site's future hold?

Quay Barnes, who leads the Mid-East Area Commission, said Eastland Mall hasn't been viable for years.

"Basically, for all of us, use the parts you can, tear down the rest," she said. "Maybe do something like Northland has done."

The Northland Mall site has been redeveloped into offices, restaurants and retail, including the Ohio Department of Taxation, Franklin County Dog Shelter, Northland Performing Arts Center and such restaurants as Chipotle, Jimmy John's and McDonald's, as well as a Kroger store moved from the other side of Morse Road in 2016.

Barnes said she'd like to see housing and a sports facility on the site, something to draw young professionals to the area.

Eastland Mall Holdings bought the mall property in 2015 for $9.7 million.

The mall at Refugee and South Hamilton roads south in Interstate 70 was opened Feb. 14, 1968, and was the area's first fully enclosed mall. Northland Mall was opened in 1964 as an open-air mall.

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Eastland Mall in Columbus to close this week, ending 54-year run