Polaris is financial asset for Delaware County
Following the second gunfire incident inside Polaris Fashion Place last month, Delaware County commissioners decided it was important to set up a meeting with Columbus to discuss public safety there.
“It’s extremely important to keep the public safe — in the county, in the city, in that area, and restore confidence,” Commissioner Jeff Benton said at the March 22 meeting.
One reason for the concern is that the mall, although it was annexed into the city of Columbus in the late 1990s, is located in Delaware County and generates a large portion of the county’s more than $66 million in annual sales tax revenue. Exactly how much is considered confidential due to taxpayer privacy laws. But George Kaitsa, Delaware County auditor, and others don’t disagree with at least one estimate of 18%, or about $12 million annually, from mall sales.
Kaitsa said the estimate likely derives from the mall’s 1.3 million square feet of retail space generating an industry average of $600 to $850 per square foot.
Delaware County collects a 7% sales tax at Polaris and other businesses in the county. The state of Ohio receives 5.75% of that, said Kaitsa, and the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) receives 0.5% from sales in Columbus’ annexed portion of the county.
The county receives 1.25% of that 7% tax, and earmarks 0.375% of that for road and bridge upkeep across Delaware County — unusual among Ohio’s 88 counties.
In an agreement that was just renewed through 2056, Polaris mall has a tax-increment financing (TIF) district to divert property taxes into infrastructure maintenance such as to widen roads or add curbs.
From the Polaris TIF, which currently generates $4.2 million a year, the Olentangy Local School District will continue to be reimbursed all property taxes it would otherwise receive absent the TIF, according to the agreement.
The tax money means Delaware County has a keen interest in keeping customers coming to the mall, even though technically it is part of Columbus, which collects 2.5% income tax from mall employees.
“The concern would be that we continue to generate sales so that the county can collect taxes,” Kaitsa said. “All of us shop there. You want to be able to shop where you feel safe.”
Even though Columbus police have jurisdiction over public safety at Polaris, Delaware County Sheriff’s office deputies are often the first to respond to serious incidents, such as gunfire, since deputies patrol much of the surrounding area and have a nearby substation in Orange Township, said Tracy Whited, sheriff’s office spokeswoman.
Gunfire, even without injury, following a pandemic and economic downturn, is an unfortunate gut punch, said Lee Paterson, executive vice-president of WD Partners, who has written about ways to revitalize malls following the coronavirus pandemic.
“There’s immediate concern. It couldn’t happen at a worse time,” Paterson said. “It’s like a harmonic convergence of disruptive things that could happen.”
Patterson said “it takes a tremendous (public relations) effort to smooth things like that over to where people forget.”
Surrounding the Polaris mall are commercial developments that continue to be developed by NP Limited Partnership/polaris Centers of Commerce.
Franz Geiger, managing director of NP Partnership, which includes an association to set standards for development, said he’s concerned about an unfair image tarnishing the mall following gunfire when no one was struck.
“I don’t think it’s a trend at Polaris,” he said. “I don’t think it’s an area in decline.”
Mall owners have not said if visits have declined. The mall and surrounding development swells the county population by about 30,000 daytime workers.
As a huge employer and tax revenue engine, it helps sustain local, municipal and state government, Geiger said. Occasional problems are magnified, he said, after excelling for so long.
“It’s like a straight A student who gets their first C,” he said.
Geiger said that the shootings alone, might be “kind of a little bit of a wakeup call.” And management might ask, “Are we prepared for an event like this? Can we squelch it?”
Since the shootings, the mall has agreed to pay at least two Columbus police officers to work special duty at the mall when it’s open, said Columbus police Cmdr. Mike Gray.
Gray, who oversees the Division of Police special duty operations and was in the meeting with Delaware County officials, said mall ownership has the final say in how much security they want.
“We’ve had no reports of violence in there since (the gunfire incidents),” Gray said.
Polaris is one of a group of malls privately owned by Columbus-based Washington Prime Group, which has struggled through the pandemic. The Dispatch reported last month that in its fourth-quarter earnings report, Washington Prime said “there exists substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
The company has indicated to investors it was looking for financing help because it is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Delaware County Treasurer Don Rankey, who had previously held other positions that promote strong financial growth in the county, said it’s essential for the county to keep working with Polaris officials “to make sure they have continued success for the better good of the entire county.
“It’s basically in our back yard,” he said of the mall. “We can’t allow Polaris to fail. We can’t afford to have unforeseen ripples. They’re a cornerstone of our continued strong economic development.” dnarciso@dispatch.com @Deannarciso