A Cleveland developer is breathing new life into these vacant spaces by transforming them into business parks, revitalizing local economies and creating new jobs.
CLEVELAND — Earlier this year, OnQ, a company that manufactures retail displays for tech products, opened a new facility in a reimagined JCPenney within the former Chapel Hill Mall in Akron. OnQ CEO Paul Chapuis finds that poetic.
“We brought life back to the mall,” Chapuis said. “100 people to this place, and a totally new design, a totally new purpose for this building.”
The concept of converting struggling malls into business parks comes from Industrial Commercial Properties (IPC), a Cleveland-based firm led by owner Chris Semarjian.
“I love taking something that isn’t working well or struggling and making it great,” Semarjian said.
Semarjian began his career converting old factories into multi-use business spaces. When those opportunities dwindled, old retail space sparked his interest.
“These malls have great infrastructure. They have great locations, usually close to highways,” Semarjian explained. “People don’t envision them as being business parks because they’re used to the mall.”
IPC’s first successful mall conversion was at Randall Park Mall, where it took three years to acquire all the properties.
“We demolished most of the mall and brought Amazon in. That created thousands of employees. But we also took the former Sears and turned that into a multi-tenant business park. Then we built a restaurant on-site. So, there’s all kinds of things that happen once you make the old dead mall go away,” Semarjian said.
One of IPC’s latest projects is the transformation of Lodi Outlet Mall, which spans more than 300,000 square feet across 50 acres. Eventually it will have more tenants than other ICP business parks. Its barn-like features are being stripped away to become Interstate Business Park.
“We’re changing the whole feel of the place. It will look much more contemporary. It’ll be put in really nice condition, as new condition,” Semarjian said. “I think we’ve already retained two or three of the existing tenants and have proposals for two or three more now.”
IPC’s track record includes several other successful redevelopments throughout Northeast Ohio and the United States, including the City View complex in Garfield Heights, now known as Highland Park. Once long vacant, the site now houses multiple companies and hundreds of employees.
“That thing was vacant for like 12 to 14 years and only had the Giant Eagle left. Now, out of 500-plus thousand square feet, I think we only have two small spaces left. We have multiple companies and hundreds of people working there,” Semarjian said.
Semarjian has made a career out of revitalizing old spaces as industries moved overseas. Now, with business returning to new facilities.
“We feel very strongly that we’re bringing something that’s been appreciated pretty much since people have been living there and since the mall’s existence, into something new that they can appreciate again,” Semarjian said.
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