Franklin Park Mall, which wanted to expand further under its previous owner but held off, now plans to go forward with those earlier plans and add another mini-anchor store.
The mall’s owners, Starwood Retail Partners of Chicago, last month submitted a plan to the Toledo Plan Commission requesting changes to its mall site plan.
Franklin Park plans to construct a 45,000-square-foot building that will face Sylvania Avenue and share a wall with retailer Ulta Salon.
According to city councilman Tom Waniewski, mall officials said at the plan commission meeting that the new building will house Gordmans department store, a discount retailer from Omaha.
The site plan request, which was approved by the plan commission at its Feb. 12 meeting, included asking that the mall service road that runs in front of the new building — plus current retailers Ulta Salon and Old Navy — be extended to Royer Road.
Franklin Park Mall spokesman Julie Sanderson confirmed that the new retailer is Gordmans, but said she could not comment on the site plans or any timetable for the new building’s construction.
In 2012, Westfield submitted plans to add 47,000 square feet in the same general location but it did not obtain permission to connect to Royer Road. The mall had planned to add retailer HomeGoods, which has since located elsewhere on Monroe Street.
Gordmans Stores, Inc., which began in Omaha in 1915, is a deep discount retailer that focuses on name brand apparel and home goods. Its chief competitors are Kohl’s, Wal-Mart, TJ Maxx, Marshall’s, Stein Mart, and Target.
The company didn’t respond to requests seeking comments on its plans for Toledo.
Gordmans uses an everyday low price strategy to entice shoppers, meaning it offers merchandise at a consistently low cost rather than using sales and discounts.
For eight decades, it was owned by the Dan Gordman family but in 2008 the chain was acquired by private equity firm Sun Capital Partners. Gordmans went public in 2010, although Sun still owns a majority stake. In the last three years, the chain has executed an expansion plan that has increased its total stores by 40 percent.
Gordmans, which is known mostly west of the Mississippi River, has 96 stores in 21 states. It opened seven new stores in 2014 and plans to add up to six more in 2015.
It launched a recent foray into Ohio, opening its first two stores in Mentor and Aurora in northeast Ohio.
Last year Gordmans opened a 500,000-square-foot warehouse in Indianapolis, its second distribution center and its first east of the Mississippi. The warehouse is capable of servicing 200 stores.
Contact Jon Chavez at: jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.
First Published March 14, 2015, 4:21 a.m.
