A West Toledo shopping center that has been relegated to the retail dead for more than 15 years is about to return to life by welcoming three new businesses that should drive significant traffic to the strip mall.
Developer Mario Kiezi, who owns several Toledo-area properties and recently redeveloped a former home furnishings store on Airport Highway into a state liquor store franchise called Glass City Beverages, said redevelopment has begun on Westgate Town Center, 3314 Secor Rd.
Mr. Kiezi, of MKiezi Investments, said the new tenants will include a state liquor store, a national party supplies retailer, and a trampoline and family entertainment business. There is 17,000 square feet of vacant space remaining.
The site is behind a Chick-fil-A restaurant on Secor and it once was home to a Food Town Plus supermarket and F&M Distributors, a discount drug superstore.
The 62,000-square-foot Food Town Plus closed in April, 2003, while the 25,000-square-foot F&M Distributors closed in 1996.
In 2017 Mr. Kiezi bought the center for $2.8 million from the heirs of the late Herman Ross of Farmington Hills, Mich. Mr. Ross, a real estate investor, owned the center, once known as the Farmer Jack plaza, for six decades.
Mr. Kiezi said he attempted to fill it several times with national apparel retailers but each time a tentative deal was struck, it fell apart because of changes in shopping trends.
However, the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Division of Liquor Control saw the site and thought it would be perfect for a new concept that it has created — Last Call liquor stores.
“Mario’s location was a great choice because he is opening such a large location,” said Lindsey LeBerth, a spokesman for the Liquor Control division.
“In the fall we opened what we’re calling a Last Call store in Columbus. This one will be Toledo’s hub,” she said.
Ms. LeBerth said the 25,000-square-foot Last Call store will be where the state will consolidate all liquor products in the Toledo area that are being discontinued or perhaps haven’t sold as well as the state would like. Last Call products will be discounted up to 40 percent
“This store will carry all your regular products. But it’s going to be a neat mix of products, so you’ll find your salmon vodka. But you may also find some treasures that are being discontinued,” she said.
The store will open in the late spring.
Ms. LeBerth said the Columbus store has exceeded the state’s expectations, and it foresees the same for the Toledo store.
“We ran two four-day special events in Columbus and we had way larger crowds than we expected,” she said. “We will be opening 24 stores across the state and we’re trying to raise the expectations for what our contract agencies look like. We want a welcoming environment and a knowledgeable and helpful staff. That’s going to go into our new stores,” Ms. LeBerth said.
Mr. Kiezi is taking the liquor store franchise a step further. He is soliciting smaller specialty boutique businesses to take space in the store and sell nonalcoholic products.
“I plan to lease 10 units within the store. So I’ll be looking for a bakery or birthday cake business, an express meats shop, a popcorn store, a chocolatier, those kind of businesses,” he said.
To complement the liquor store, Mr. Kiezi said he has a tentative deal with a national party supplies retailer that plans to open a 14,000-square-foot store in the center. He declined to name the retailer but said he is close to a signed lease.
Lastly, the center will get a 23,000-square-foot AirTime Trampoline & Game Park franchise that will open in early summer.
Sam Lundy, chief operating officer for Troy, Mich.-based AirTime, said the business is a family entertainment center that has trampolines, climbing walls, laser tag, and a fitness challenge course. The AirTime location also will have party rooms for birthdays and other events.
“We have a bunch of different types of family entertainment activities. It’s a great place to do your physical activity. You can exercise in many different ways,” he said.
Trampoline parks were plentiful in the 1960s until liability lawsuits drove them almost to extinction. Mr. Lundy said the business model has been revived because of better equipment and safety standards.
“The liability issue was a big deal. There were no standards and a lot of people got hurt,” he said. “The difference is today these things are very controlled.”
First Published January 16, 2019, 1:15 a.m.
