Question: “What is going on at the West Park Shopping Center? It is still just sitting their deteriorating? Why isn’t something being done?”

MANSFIELD — The City of Mansfield is starting over in its legal attempt to resolve problems at the former West Park Shopping Center on Park Avenue West.

The city initially ordered the demolition of the 1157 Park Ave. West structure more than two years ago during the administration of Mayor Tim Theaker and Law Director John Spon.

That move spawned a myriad of discussions and arguments between the city and the owners of the property,  West Mansfield Realty, and its parent company, New York-based Namdar Realty Group, and its ever-changing legal representatives.

Fast forward to current day and the rapidly crumbling and empty strip mall along the heart of the so-called “Miracle Mile” has become the ever-vexing problem of current Mayor Jodie Perry and Law Director Rollie Harper.

That’s because the Mansfield Planning Commission on Tuesday voted in late October 2023 to give West Mansfield Realty a 90-day extension on the demolition order for the strip mall and massive asphalt parking lot.

Theaker and Spon left office two months later.

The buildings remain … and continue to self-demolish.

(Below are photos taken in October at the West Park Shopping Center in Mansfield.)

Questions about the failed shopping center are among the most frequent Richland Source receives through Open Source. The queries led to a recent interview with Perry and Harper to discuss the ongoing issue.

Perry said she understands the frustrations from local residents weary of driving by the eyesore in the middle of what has been a key retail area in the community. Namdar’s website listing for the property looks nothing like the reality Mansfield residents see every day.

“We (she and Harper) are both frustrated by it, too,” she said. “I don’t want people to think this has not been a priority or something we are not working on. I would say we are looking at all angles.”

Over the last two years, local officials have admitted Namdar is tough to pin down. It has a portfolio of nearly 400 properties, which includes more than 170 retail properties in 37 states.

One of those is the Pittsburgh Mills mall. A story published at TribLive in October in Pittsburgh said, “The owner of Pittsburgh Mills mall has built a real estate empire by buying dying malls and letting them deteriorate before selling off property and walking away, leaving helpless communities in its wake, according to officials where Namdar Realty Group owns assets.”

The story said, “Last year, Namdar reported a gross profit of $86.7 million, up nearly 10% over the previous year, according to the Wall Street Journal. Yet the company fails to invest in its properties, appeals property tax assessments — and often wins relief to the tune of tens of millions of dollars — and then sells the assets to developers at a sizeable profit.”

For those keeping track of Namdar Realty Group, it also purchased 200 Public Square, downtown Cleveland’s third-tallest skyscraper earlier this year.

The 45-story, 658-foot 200 Public Square office building, previously known as BP Tower and before then the Standard Oil Building, was purchased by Namdar for $54 million, according to published reports.

Namdar continues to change the attorneys it hires to represent West Mansfield Realty, making the process difficult.

“Often these cases take years,” Harper said, adding he doesn’t know if the frequent change in attorneys is doing intentionally to slow the process.

“I don’t have an answer (on it) being intentional, because I have no direct communication in that regard. All I see is what I do … and because I see very slow movement, it’s just time to turn up the heat and start it going quicker,” the law director said.

“Frankly, we inherited this case and there was a faulty demolition order to begin with. It didn’t include the parking lot, which is what we have go back and re-do. That’s what we are doing.”

At one doing during the ongoing discussions between Namdar and the city, the company agreed to demolish the buildings in the strip mall, but demanded to keep the parking lot intact since it was not a part of the demolition order. Company attorneys also challenged the legal right of the city to tear up the large lot.

Harper said the plans to issue a new demolition order and has retained the the Canton law firm of Baker, Dublikar, Beck, Wiley & Mathews to assist in the case.

That’s the same firm the city is using in its lawsuit against Page Excavating over the alleged improper demolition of the former YMCA on Park Avenue West.

He said the order “addresses and overcomes any potential litigation and removes any ambiguity concerning the parking lot and its removal.”

Harper said it’s the belief of the city and its outside law firm that a new demolition order is a better plan that potentially litigating the previous one.

If the company refuses, he said the city will again “work through the demolition process in order to complete the order.”

When the new tear-down order is issued, Namdar may choose the following appeal paths:

— appeal the order to the city Planning Commission.

— if that fails, it can appeal to the local, county or Ohio Board of Building Appeals in the State Department of Commerce.

— if that fails, Namdar can appeal to the Board of Building Appeals with the local Richland County Common Pleas Court.

— if that fails, the company can appeal to the Ohio Fifth District Court of Appeals.

The law director said once all appeals are exhausted, the company can hire a company to tear down the buildings and parking lot or the city will have the work done, billing the company for the costs.

While the formal demolition track continues, Perry said she is continuing to work to find solutions from the development side.

“I’ve had conversations with potential people who could buy it,” she said. “We would much rather have it locally controlled. We are investigating all options.

“It’s not acceptable for that property to continue to languish,” the mayor said.

Perry admitted it’s a challenge for the city’s Building Codes and Permits department to constantly monitor the property.

“I know (workers) have been out there because we have periodic reports from neighbors who call in. City workers try to be responsive as possible on this. At the end of the day, the property owner should be the one that is taking care of their property,” she said.

“This is the frustration and the battle we fight. There are a great many developers and property owners who do what they should. But there is a certain amount of them that don’t,” she said.

What assurances can Harper and Perry provide to residents that this new effort will pay dividends?

“We have no way to know whether it’s going to be different,” Harper said. “They could throw another curveball if they wanted to. I don’t know. But I know this is the process we are going to walk through.”

Perry said she believes the previous administration was “working sincerely to get the problem taken care of and they ran into a timing issue at the end of their time.”

“We have the shared opinion that this cannot continue to go. The residents … the community deserve better than what is happening out there.”