ONTARIO — The Richland Mall could see $10 million in investment across the next three years.
Brait Fund, based in Minneapolis, has purchased the Richland Mall for $4 million.
“We want to make sure the businesses we bring in are going to serve the community,” said Brait Fund’s co-founder and managing partner of the Richland Mall project Saul Zenkevicius.
“We’re still in our research phase of all the possibilities, but we’re considering gym space, a daycare, expanded food options and things like that.”
Zenkevicius said the Brait Fund team intends to keep the existing retail stores as tenants in the mall and would welcome additional local entrepreneurs who have ideas for business development.
According to its website, the Brait Fund team specializes in transforming “under-performing, neglected properties into valuable assets, fostering vibrant communities, and creating enduring value for our partners and investors.”
Avita Health System is not included in Brait Fund’s purchase, but Zenkevicius said the investment partners want to collaborate with Avita in finding tenants who can complement hospital operations.
“We’d love to find tenants who can give patients of the hospital different amenities — food, activities, possibly a daycare,” he said. “Or, entertainment options for people visiting their family members.
“We would love to host events at the mall too with approval from the local municipalities. We’ve had firework shows, car shows and food truck festivals at our other properties.”
Marcus & Millichap senior investment associate Frank Simcic represented the sellers in the exchange with Brait Fund.
“We went through about a dozen buyer offers from across the country and wanted to find the best fit,” Simcic said. “We were under contract for a considerable amount of time to secure the financing.
“With retail malls and mixed use projects, it can be more difficult to finance, because you have so many different local tenants as opposed to a single national credit tenant.”
Simcic said Marcus & Millichap agents sold properties in more than 17 states last year focusing in retail sales.
“We could tell when we visited the property that the roof and parking lot needed some work, but the Brait team seem willing to start that to kick off some redevelopment,” Simcic said.
“I’m excited to see what this turns into and I’m sure there will be a lot of benefit to the Mansfield and Ontario area.”
Brait Fund a partner in Ohio’s Piqua Center redevelopment
Brait Fund was an investment partner in the Piqua Center mall last year, which is north of Dayton. Zenkevicius said the investment partners bought the mall at about 30% occupancy and have added a mixed martial arts gym, a trampoline park and private warehouse space.
“We took it to almost 70% occupancy within a year,” he said. “People don’t shop at big box stores the way they used to, so we like to focus on entertainment and experiences as the traffic to big box stores has waned.
“All that space that used to be occupied by Macy’s, Sears and those stores can be utilized for businesses who maybe don’t need foot traffic, they sell online, but they need a spot to store their inventory and process orders.”
The managing partner said the Brait team will be developing surveys for Richland County area business leaders and community members across the coming weeks to receive feedback.
He said the investment team hopes to bring in additional vendors to the food court within six months and additional retail within a year.
Built in 1968, the Richland Mall was once home to Lazarus, Sears and Macy’s, which have since closed. JC Penny is the only remaining department store at the mall.
Avita Health System purchased the former Lazarus property to convert into a full service hospital beginning in 2017. Since then, the hospital has expanded to an obstetrics unit, pharmacy and medication access program.
“If there are any business owners who need work space or expansion space and are maybe limited because of price or other issues, please reach out to me because we’d love to sit down and see if it’s viable to bring you on board here,” Zenkevicius said.
Zenkevicius said entrepreneurs can contact him at saul@braitfund.com. RCS Construction will be the Brait Fund’s construction partner for the Richland Mall.
“We want to have our master plan of what the mall will look like ready around June 1,” he said.
“You will start to see some improvement very soon, and we hope to bring the Richland Mall up to a vibrant community space in three to five years.”