A blighted slab of concrete by any other name is still going to have Southwyck’s troubles.

Toledo Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson has pitched a plan to city council to finally redevelop the former Southwyck mall property. It includes creating a community reinvestment area to authorize tax exemptions for remodeling and new construction, and renaming the property Hawthorne Hills.

This feels like the latest misstep in the city’s misguided trek to redevelop the former mall property.

Southwyck was once the hub of the South Toledo retail corridor. After the mall closed more than eight years ago and the buildings were razed, the city acquired it in 2014 during Mayor Mike Collins’ administration.

Not much has been done to prevent the space becoming an eyesore of weedy, crumbling concrete for anyone coming into town via the nearby Ohio Turnpike exit.

A deal to sell the 58.5-acre property to a secret buyer for $2.8 million fell through last year.

City council seemed to enthusiastically embrace the mayor’s proposal to change the name. Councilman Rob Ludeman went so far as to say renaming it was “the most important thing.”

No, it’s not.

The most important thing is for the city to have a comprehensive and detailed strategy for finding a buyer and selling Southwyck to someone who will really redevelop it. The proposed community reinvestment area may be a good part of such a plan, but, as Councilman Tom Waniewski said, the public needs to see more details about that.

After that, the most important thing is for the city to learn its lesson about buying property that needs redevelopment. Toledo officials just aren’t very good at that and the city ends up sitting on vast swaths of real estate that come off the tax rolls and sit for far too long without any actual redevelopment.

Toledo officials should worry less about choosing a new name for Southwyck and focus on searching for potential buyers with good plans for the property.

First Published March 19, 2017, 4:00 a.m.