Bidenomics vs. Economics
Lorain County Port Authority decides The Garden vs. Industrial Commercial Properties for Elyria Mall.
The Lorain County Port Authority held public presentations last month regarding the Elyria Mall revitalization project. The Center for Food Innovation and Industrial Commercial Properties are the two companies competing for Elyria Mall revitalization project.
Bara Watts, Chief Executive Officer for the Center for Food Innovation presented “The Garden” an indoor controlled environment greenhouse which would be the largest year round agriculture community in country. The Garden would include residential housing, green space and a farmers market. When discussing funding Watts discusses public and private funding required for this project, she claims that they have received proposals from partnered developers and grant funding is also available for this project, their philosophy is partnered collaboration. The Center for Food Innovation is a 501 (C) 3, so if acquired the city would not be receiving property tax income.
Chris Salata, Chief Operating Officer for Industrial Commercial Properties (ICP) would like to redevelop Elyria Mall into a Multi Tenant Business Park. Industrial Commercial Properties is a self funded Cleveland based company with 150 properties and 350 tenants in their portfolio and have been in operation for 28 years, with ICP you get “certainty of execution”. First thing ICP would do is change the narrative of the site cosmetically by painting the building, new pavement, adding landscaping, and updating lighting which will open the Elyria Mall Site for business.
Mr. Salata states, “creating a Multi Tenant Business Park will serve the city as a mutual fund” meaning the city would not be relying on one company to do well to receive a return on investment. If one business fails the whole project does not collapse which shows the Multi Tenant Business Park model is sustainable.
Industrial Commercial Properties Multi Tenant Business Park Model is a” tried and true” model, they have already completed seventh mall redevelopment and their tenth retail turn around project. Once the mall is activated everything around the mall will come to life and will benefit surrounding businesses.
Industrial Commercial Properties provided breakdown of proposed investment, proposed job creation, proposed payroll, and redevelopment.
The Lorain County Port Authority will be making their decision in the next few months. You can find more video clips here or to watch full presentations click here.
Author: Kathleen Beyer