Woodville Mall site

USA / Ohio / Walbridge / Williston Road (OH-579), 3725
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792,000 sq. ft. shopping mall constructed in 1969 on 89.8 ac. site (actual mall property is 58 ac., as Sears and Elder-Beerman own their own sites) by Youngstown Ohio developer Edward J DeBartolo Corporation. Original anchor tenants included Sears (146,800 sq. ft.), Lasalle's (106,664 sq. ft.), JC Penney (104,700 sq. ft.) and Woolworths. Lasalle's became Elder Beerman in 1985 and Penney's closed in 1986. The Andersons replaced JCPenney in 1987. Woolworth closed in 1997 and Elder-Beerman closed in 2009.

As the Toledo area's first enclosed mall, Woodville was built in anticipation of a population boom that never materialized. Located on the periphery of the Toledo urban area and east of the Maumee River, the mall suffered with the construction of Franklin Mall (1971) and Southwyck Mall (1972) west of the river and closer to areas of suburban growth. In 2004 the property was sold for $2.5 million to California based realtors who planned to refurbish the mall. The renovations did not proceed and the mall was put up for sale. In 2009 it was sold to a New York based investor for $700,000 with less than 12 tenants. After, after a brief ray of hope in summer 2011, the mall swelled to 25 tenants (source: Labelscar) but by December, it was back down to around 12, with city officials looking to condemn the mall, as it lacks heating and is structurally failing (collapsing roof, buckling floor, mold, no working sprinkler system). The mall was shut down in late 2011. Sears, Fox Theatre, and The Andersons are still here.

3725 Williston Road
Northwood, Ohio 43619
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   41°36'12"N   83°27'39"W
This article was last modified 6 years ago