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MANSFIELD – The West Park Shopping Center has been a public eyesore on the once prominent “Miracle Mile” for years.
Richland Source first reported on the decline of the shopping center in 2019.
Since then, readers have continued to ask for updates on the property at 1157 Park Avenue West.
In September 2019, Ruthie Good submitted the following question for Richland Source’s Mansfield mayoral debate:
“How would you enforce property owners, like the Park Avenue West mall, to make and keep the area look nice? They charge expensive rent, but do not use it here for improvements.”
Nearly two years later, an anonymous reader brought up the shopping center again.
“In front of West Park Shopping Center there has been a section or two of sidewalk that has been surrounded by orange barrels/cones and caution tape for over a year,” he noted. “Who is responsible to fix it?”
In May 2022, another anonymous reader submitted the following:
“Who is holding the owner of West Park Shopping Center accountable for the horrible conditions of that building? There were puddles of water throughout Dollar General this past weekend. Word is CitiTrends moved out due to mold in the basement. It’s becoming an eyesore.”
Last month, Tammy McQuillen raised the issue yet again.
“What if anything is being done to clean up or revitalize the old West Park Shopping Center?” she asked. “Who owns it? Have any fines been levied to force clean up? It’s been neglected for decades, and Dollar General is leaving it.”
Mark Milliron, the building, codes and permits manager for the City of Mansfield, told Richland Source he’s scheduled to meet with the owners of West Park on Sept. 13 to do an inspection of the property.
The city of Mansfield recently posted bright yellow condemned notices on approximately half of the units, all on the west and southwest side of the complex.
After the inspection, the city will evaluate the property and inform Namdar of what repairs need to be made.
“If they don’t want to do anything, we’ll order demolition,” Milliron said.
Milliron said the property has serious issues that pose a risk to public safety.
“I think the thing that concerns me more is the broken glass. It’s vandalized, windows are always getting broken out,” he said.
“Even the signs that hang on the canopy are kind of dangerous. One of those pieces of plastic could fall and hit you in the head.”
Current and former West Park tenants say the property owners, Namdar Realty Group and Mason Asset Management, have failed to maintain the development and are unresponsive to requests for repairs.
Milliron said his office regularly sends letters to Namdar regarding issues with the property. The developer often does the bare minimum to stay within compliance with city code.
“They go out and make a little bit of repairs,” he said. “We’re constantly sending them stuff. We’ll send them a list of 10 things and then they’ll do five.”
Namdar, a New York real estate investment firm, purchased the West Park Shopping Center for $1.6 million in March of 2015, according to published reports. Both Namdar and Mason Asset Management, a related company, list the center in their online portfolios.
Richland Source made multiple requests for comment from Namdar and Mason, but received no response.
According to a map on Namdar’s website, there are 36 commercial spaces at West Park Shopping Center, including a small independent building, a medium-sized strip mall on the east side and the larger strip mall that runs along the south and west sides of the 18-acre plot.
Just nine of those spaces are occupied. Almost all of them are located on the east side of the commercial park.
Many tenants relocated after increased rent prices a few years ago.
In a 2019 interview with Richland Source, Tara Beaire of Tara’s Floral Expressions said she chose to relocate after Namdar hiked her rent by $500 a month.
“They wouldn’t make any repairs. Why would I give them more of my money?” she said.
Many of the vacant storefront windows have black tarps or painted windows to obscure the view inside. Profanities and crude cartoons have been scribbled into the fading paint.
In one storefront, light panels dangle from an exposed drop ceiling. Chunks of plaster cover the floor.
Namdar’s website paints a rosier picture of the West Park shopping center. The listing includes multiple tenants who are no longer in business at West Park, including Dollar General and Citi Trends. The listing also includes photos that appear to be edited.
On the other half of the strip, remaining tenants continue to operate in spite of the circumstances.
Cheryl Cox has operated Comfrey Corner Natural Foods at West Park since 1979. Inside the shop, shelves are lined with jars of organic herbs, healing crystals, supplements and other wellness products.
But outside, the wood at the front of the building is showing signs of rot and peeling paint.
“I’d like to do things like flower boxes with herbs and flowers, and (Namdar) OK’d it, but I’m not going to do it until they repair (the facade),” she said.
Brown circles have begun to form on the ceiling above the display case. Cox said she’s bracing herself for a leak. She’s seen repair workers visit the property occasionally, but change never comes.
“This spring they put white paint around all the holes in the parking lot like they weren’t going to repair it. The paint is gone and it still has the holes,” she said.
One store owner, who did not wish to speak to the media, had a section of their store closed off to customers due to fear of the ceiling caving in.
Chad Walker, a manager at Rent-A-Center, said landlords have been responsive to his store’s needs during their 20 years at West Park.
Nevertheless, he believes better overall maintenance would attract more businesses to the plaza. Cracked sidewalks, rusty fixtures, exposed wiring and peeling paint characterize the walkway outside the stores.
“They could do better with the cleanliness out here,” he said. “Obviously we’d like to have more stores in here to bring in more customers, but it’s still been good business.”
Cox agreed the overall appearance of the mall is bad for business.
“We started closing earlier because people said they were afraid to come here later at night,” she said.
“I don’t understand because we’ve been completely safe here,” she added. “People will come and say it looks so bad out here. Is that a reason not to shop?”
Nevertheless, Cox said her loyal customer base and knowledge of natural healing have kept her afloat.
“People come all the way up from Columbus because they can’t find things there,” she said. “Everybody knows that we know more than anybody about natural healing.”
She’s still holding out hope that maybe things will change.
“They promised me a year and a half, two years ago that they were going to take care of all the problems that I’m having and they’ve not done one thing,” Cox said.
“I’m hoping that they still will. You have to be positive.”
