Southwyck Shopping Center will be cleaned up and torn down to clear the way for a redevelopment of the South Toledo site into a mix of residential and commercial buildings, Mayor Carty Finkbeiner said yesterday.

"This week, the former Southwyck Mall and adjoining property are being prepped for demolition, which will leave the site available for redevelopment," Mr. Finkbeiner said.

The cleanup and demolition will cost the owners of the property $2.6 million, which includes a $1.5 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency brownfield loan awarded to fund the asbestos removal. Mayor Finkbeiner said demolition of the mall, which would proceed in four phases and run simultaneous to asbestos removal, will take about seven months.

Robert Reinbolt, the mayor's chief of staff, said the mall's carousel remains in storage with developer Larry Dillin, who has said he would like to keep it and an indoor amphitheater for the new development.

Once a destination shopping venue for the region, Southwyck shut down in June after 36 years. At its height during the late 1970s, the Y-shaped mall boasted 103 stores, three anchors, and dozens of smaller shops in its "Old Towne" wing.

"We will always have fond memories of Southwyck mall, but we now must look forward to the future of the neighborhood," Mr.

Finkbeiner said.

Midwest Environmental Control Inc. will oversee the project and remove the asbestos and other pollutants. D&R Demolition has been contracted to tear down and remove this structure following the environmental cleanup.

Dale Bruhl of Midwest said the company would remove asbestos first from the mall's common areas, followed by the former Lion Store, Montgomery Ward, and Dillard's.

After each area is cleaned up, it will be torn down, Mr. Bruhl said.

Mr. Dillin, creator of Levis Commons in Perrysburg and the city's developer for the proposed Marina District in East Toledo, said razing the mall will make the property easier to market.

"Now I can market the property as a greenfield site and not an environmentally polluted building," he said. "We don't have a contract specifically, but we do have years invested and a very good relationship with the owners."

The mall's ownership is divided among three entities. The managing partner is Tom Morgan of MD Management in Kansas City, Mo., a firm formerly known as Dreiseszun & Morgan.

Various trusts of the Morgan and Dreiseszun families now own about half of Southwyck through a firm called S-S-C Co. The rest is owned by Dillard's Inc. of Little Rock, with the exception of the former Dillard's store, which is owned by the M.G. Herring Group of Dallas.

Mr. Dillin's redevelopment plan included a mixed-use development of stores, offices, and residential, much like Levis Commons in Perrysburg, complete with a fountain, pavilion, and a clock tower.

Councilman D. Michael Collins, whose council district includes the mall, said he was becoming frustrated with the lack of progress at Southwyck.

"It is too valuable of a property to allow it to sit vacant," he said.

Contact Ignazio Messina at:

imessina@theblade.com

or 419-724-6171.

First Published March 19, 2009, 3:09 p.m.