Xenia seeking new developer for site
Former Kmart property in Towne Square has sat empty since 2014.
The city of Xenia is searching for a new company to develop the former Kmart property in Towne Square that has sat empty since 2014.
The city is looking for developers to redevelop the approximately 5.6-acre parcel, located at 200 W. Main St., after the city decided to part ways with Brandicorp, a northern Kentucky-based developer of retail properties.
“We appreciate the time and effort that Brandicorp has put into the project,” said Xenia City Manager Brent Merriman. “While we both had high expectations for the property, it has become
apparent that those expectations were not going to be realized, so we have decided to move in a different direction.”
The city signed an agreement with Merriman in 2016 to buy the property for $800,000 if the company redeveloped the site.
The city has set a deadline of March 20 for companies to submit proposals.
City officials said it expects a new firm to be able to move much more quickly, as it cited an environmental issue discovered as a major cause for the previous delay.
It took nearly a year to complete additional testing and develop alternatives that would be acceptable to the Ohio EPA.
Steve Brodsky, Xenia development director, said contamination was discovered during the due diligence phase of the project. The property sits on what were residential buildings before they were devastated by the 1974 Xenia tornado. It’s suspected that the contamination was left behind after the land was bulldozed during tornado cleanup decades ago, Brodsky said.
The decision to part ways with Brandicorp, Brodsky said, didn’t necessarily cost the city additional project money. However, money did need to be expended to figure out how to deal with the discovered contamination. Brodsky said the city expects to make the money back after signing a new developer.
“We believe there is still strong market demand for specialty retail and food service in the downtown area,” Merriman said.
Xenia Towne Square was touted as a “neighborhood mall” when it opened in 1980, six years after a tornado demolished the downtown area and killed 33 people. The 55,000-squarefoot Kmart building was an anchor store on the corner of Galloway and West Market
streets and cost an estimated $2 million to build.
Overall, Xenia Towne Square cost an estimated $13.5 million. Most of the money, $7.5 million, came from local, federal and state government funding while the remaining $6 million came from private money.
Town Square, which once housed Radio Shack and Ann’s Hallmark Shop, sits empty today.
In recent years, numerous stores have opened in Xenia’s downtown area, including food service retailers like The Coffee Hub, Courthouse Coffee, Devin Wind Brewing and the Flour Bake Shop. Other retailers, including Barr’s Pharmacy, Gypsy Alley
Boutique, Carson’s Treasures, Rt. 68 Vintage Toys and Collectibles and Triple J’s Comics and Collectibles, have also opened.
“Essentially what we are looking for is something to add to Xenia’s market,” Brodsky said. “Whether that is retailers or restaurants, but essentially something that would be a good fit for the community.”
Once applications are in, Brodsky said a new developer could be chosen by the end of spring.