Eastland Mall's future: Newly unveiled neighborhood vision includes housing, shopping, more

Eastland Mall’s future: Newly unveiled neighborhood vision includes housing, shopping, more

Posted by author March 6, 2025 Shopping

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With demolition underway, what does the future hold for Eastland Mall?

Some possible answers arrived late Thursday when a group led by the Columbus Department of Neighborhoods unveiled a study called Eastland for Everyone that lays out a vision for the Southeast Side property and surrounding area.

The study, reflecting 16 months of work and 1,800 participants, highlights what residents would like to see in the neighborhood, including more grocery stores, a recreation and community center, more jobs, and improved safety and transportation.

“It’s hard to prioritize, but some reoccurring themes were the area being a resource desert, with people having to leave the area to meet a lot of basic needs such as food and medical,” said Noelle Britt, the city’s Eastland Neighborhood Program specialist. “There’s a desire for a community center, places where people can gather, which is a lot of what the mall provided.”

The study looks far beyond the mall itself to 6 square miles roughly bounded by Interstate 70 to the north, James Road and U.S. 33 to the west, Refugee/Chatterton roads to the south and Brice Road to the east.

The report notes that the area is home to about 20,400 people but faces challenges. Median household income in the area is 19% below the city overall; 22% of households are below the poverty level; and 13% of households don’t own a vehicle.

“We want every family to share in the city’s success, and we know that has not been the case everywhere,” said Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther about the Eastland area.

The plan contains a rendering of what a redeveloped Eastland Mall could look like, with shops, restaurants, a rec center, housing, and other uses, but Britt and others cautioned that the study isn’t a blueprint for the mall site. Instead, it mirrors the city’s 2018 One Linden plan and 2020’s Envision Hilltop plan, which sought to document the needs and desires of a broader neighborhood.

“If you look at our capital and operating budgets since One Linden and Envision Hilltop have been adopted, clearly those plans are a high priority,” Ginther said. “The same will be true of Eastland, which we’ve already demonstrated with infrastructure along Hamilton Road.”

The study identifies eight “big ideas” that neighborhood participants would like to see pursued on and around the former shopping center, which closed in December 2022, nearly 55 years after opening on Valentine’s Day in 1968:

Housing: create more housing, including more affordable and senior options; and more support for current residents in the form of rental and home-repair assistance. The report notes that 60% of housing in the area was built between 1960 and 1980 and estimates that up to 1,500 new residences will be needed over the next decade.
Jobs and Opportunity: attract more neighborhood jobs and job-training programs; and better transportation access to jobs. The study notes that the area saw a 25% drop in jobs from 2010 to 2020.
Retail, Small Business and Entrepreneurship: add more stores, including grocery stores, especially along Refugee and Hamilton roads; more efforts to encourage business start-ups such as incubators and co-working spaces.
Youth and Education: create more activities and destinations for youth such as recreation centers, entertainment destinations and other safe spaces to gather; and more opportunities for career development such as mentorship or job-training programs.
Mobility and Access: improve bus frequency, routes and stops; better walking and biking paths; more sidewalks and safer pedestrian routes, especially near busy intersections.
Community Gathering: build a recreation or community center; improve parks, sports facilities and playgrounds; build a community pool.
Community Identity and Pride: improve the appearance and landscaping of major corridors such as South Hamilton, Refugee and Courtright roads; create gateways into the community; hold festivals and other events.
Community Well-Being and Services: improve neighborhood safety and community events, along with access to food, child care and health services

The 280-page report is the product of the city’s Department of Neighborhoods and a team of private consultants led by MKSK, which in June 2023 signed an $849,600 contract with the city of Columbus for the project. The team said it met with 1,800 members of the community and stakeholders in the neighborhood.

Eastland for Everyone offers a wish list for the neighborhood, but the report also points out that some improvements are already underway that can be built upon.

Improvements in the area include the Eastland Prosperity Center & Mid-Ohio Market, planned for a former Kroger store on Refugee and South Hamilton roads; the Columbus State Career Development Center, planned for a 37-acre site on Refugee Road and Winchester Pike; Mason Run Park, a 78-acre parcel west of the mall acquired by the city in 2022; and the completion of a gap in the Big Walnut Trail.

While those projects can be fueled by public funds, many of the area’s desires will eventually require private investments, including redeveloping the mall site itself.

A combination of owners complicates the mall’s redevelopment. Eastland Mall Holdings LLC of Louisiana owns much of the property, while the former Macy’s and Sears anchors and the former Sears Auto Center are owned by other entities and are in partial use.

“It will be a complex, long-term effort beginning with gaining site control and working with a development partner,” Ginther said of the mall’s redevelopment. “We’ve been in conversations with owners, probably not at a point where I could share anything too definitive at this point, but there are ongoing conversations with multiple owners and folks that are part of that.”

Ginther and others say Eastland for Everyone can help shape those conversations, along with the broader region’s future.

“This plan is the community’s voice,” said Department of Neighborhoods’ Director Kym Douglas. “Now let’s help them.”

jweiker@dispatch.com

@JimWeiker