MANSFIELD — The biggest news from Mansfield City Council chambers on Tuesday evening came moments after the meeting ended.
That’s when Mayor Jodie Perry confirmed to Richland Source that the decaying, former West Park Shopping Center along Park Avenue West has been sold to Dan and Brenda Niss, local business owners and entrepreneurs.
Perry said Niss doesn’t have specific development plans in mind for the 17-acre site along the “Miracle Mile” that has plagued the city for years, slowly disintegrating in the last decade under the ownership of the New Jersey-based Namdar Realty Group.
“They really did it to help the community,” said the mayor, who inherited the problem property when she took office in January 2024.
The city had initially ordered the property, including its massive parking lot, to be demolished in September 2022 during the administration of former Mayor Tim Theaker, orders Namdar officials battled for nearly the last four years.
“I needed someone local to get hands on it so that we could really guide it to the future. Dan and Brenda were willing to do that to help the city and I appreciate that,” she said.
“I was excited on New Year’s Eve once I was told everything had closed the way it was supposed to. I think this is the best possible outcome,” Perry said.
“At the end of the day, the property itself does have value and I think that the the price that was paid is fair. Without someone generous locally (buying it), we’d still be in the same situation.
“It was really good timing of someone looking to assist the community with the project. (Namdar) was ready to divest it, and we the city was willing to kind of get in the middle and help it get together,” she said.
Mayor announced sale on Dec. 5
Perry announced Dec. 5 that the former strip mall had been sold, but the names of the new local owners were not made public until Tuesday evening.
The sale came after Mansfield City Council and the Richland County Land Bank both took actions in early December, aimed at clearing the way for the property at 1157 Park Ave. West to be demolished.
The Richland County Land Bank board on Dec. 2 voted to apply for a $1 million state brownfield remediation grant to demolish the decaying strip mall — contingent on Mansfield City Council approving necessary funding and a new owner purchasing the property.
City Council approved the plan on Dec. 3.
Due to the structure being under demolition orders from the city Planning Commission, the commission needed to approve the sale in order for it to proceed. The commission approved the sale unanimously during its Dec. 24 meeting.
Perry said she had been working with Namdar officials on selling the property since she took office and began speaking to Niss last fall.
Niss, president of Charter Next Generation, and his wife are heavily involved throughout north central Ohio. He purchased the Westbrook Country Club in 2020 and launched a multi-million capital improvement campaign, which is nearing completion.
He is now involved in the process of buying the nearby former Hamilton Park in Mansfield and plans to establish a nine-hole golf course there with a “state-of-the-art” teaching and practice facility.
His Niss Aviation FBO is the fixed base operator at Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport, servicing non-commercial aircraft and providing other services there.
Niss has also donated funding to Ashland University for the Niss Athletic Center that opened in 2021 and to Ontario High School for improvements to the Niss Stadium football complex.
‘I want this community to be something special’
In a new book, “The Spirit of a Team” by former Ashland University football coach Lee Owens and Richland Source Managing Editor Larry Phillips, Niss said philanthropy is something that makes the Minnesota native feel good.
“I want this community to be something special, and to be known,” Niss said in the book. “When we bought Westbrook Country Club, I called our accountant and I said I wanted to buy WBCC, and he said, ‘You mean Westbrook?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ And he said, ‘I’ll be over in the morning.’
“So he comes over and gives me the spiel and I listen to him for about 15 or 20 minutes and he tells me this is the dumbest idea I’ve ever had. I said, ‘I know it is. I know I’ll never make money and I’m never getting my money back. But I don’t care. I’ve got a couple of options. I like Westbrook. I just want to go right to the golf course and play with my friends because it beats everything else.
“I could either spend $25 or $30 million on a new house in Florida that I really hate, or I could spend the same money here and have a great place for my friends, my family, and just north central Ohio – and it’s a jewel now,” Niss told the book’s authors.
“Sometimes you feel like you have a responsibility,” Niss said in the book. “When you give back to the community, you’re helping a community that has done so much, played such a big part in the success that you’ve had. It just feels like the right thing to do.”
Perry didn’t disclose the sale price. The property transfer had not been posted on the Richland County Auditor’s website as of Tuesday night.
Namdar, through its West Mansfield Realty LLC, purchased the property in March 2015 for $1.6 million, according to the county auditor’s website. The company has invested little money in the facility and one tenant after another fled the site, leaving it largely lifeless at this point.
“I’ll let Dan and Brenda speak to kind of what their plans are ultimately. But the conversation with them started when I reached out and just asked them to consider doing this to help our community,” Perry said.
“They’ve impacted (development) all over the county for many years, but this was a more Mansfield-specific ask. We had a really great conversation back and forth over a few months, talking through different options,” the mayor said.
“And I was talking to (Namdar) trying to get everyone in alignment,” Perry said.
News of $1 million state brownfield grant expected in February
The mayor, also a member of the Land Bank board, said she hopes to have an answer to the brownfield grant request by February, which would accomplish the first task of returning the property to at least”green” status, pending future development.
Demolition could begin in the spring or summer and will include the parking lot.
The Ohio Department of Development’s Brownfield Remediation Program “provides grants for the cleanup of brownfield sites, to assist in the remediation of hazardous substances or petroleum at an industrial, commercial, or institutional property,” according to the program’s website.
“Remediation includes acquisition of a brownfield, demolition performed at a brownfield, and the installation or upgrade of the minimum amount of infrastructure necessary to make a brownfield site operational for economic development activity,” according to the website.
For fiscal year 2026 of the state’s budget, $88 million is available, with $1 million reserved for applicants in each of Ohio’s 88 counties, making it likely the request will be approved.
“I think the first step is obviously getting the building demolished,” said Perry, adding that buildings on the east side of the parking lot that are still occupied will remain there for now.
She said they are in “good enough shape” to remain open, providing some income on the site for the new owners of the site.
“I think they will have to be dealt with eventually,” the mayor said.
Potential exists for public use, commercial development
Perry said she does see potential for “public use” on at least part of the property, perhaps becoming the home to a new municipal swimming pool.
“We talked to Dan and Brenda about that with with them and they are open to a donation of the part of the land,” she said. “We want to do a feasibility study about a pool, so I can’t say for sure that is coming.
“But I am thinking there is a public use for part of the land and there will still be a significant part of the property that can be developed for commercial use,” she said.
In a statement, Dan Dilmanian, COO of Namdar Realty Group, said the sale “represents the culmination of our months-long collaboration with Mayor Jodie Perry’s office to best position the mall for its next chapter.”
“We look forward to seeing the property thrive as an anchor for future growth along the Miracle Mile,” Dilmanian said.
