Another big box retailer lured by the increased customer traffic on Secor Road has chosen the Westgate trade area for its latest store locations.
Columbus-based Big Lots, which already has three Toledo area stores, said it plans to open a fourth store in the Westgate Town Center shopping complex at 3314 Secor Rd.
Big Lots real estate vice president Kevin Day said the company expects to open its new 40,000 square foot store by August of this year. Some work on the project has already begun and the company has placed signs at its intended location in the center.
The site is in a space between the state-owned Last Call liquor store that opened in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the intended site of an indoor trampoline park. The prospective tenant, AirTime Trampoline & Game Park, was a business victim of coronavirus pandemic and never opened after the state went into a second-quarter lockdown and business loans grew tighter.
Mario Kiezi, who bought the troubled center for $2.8 million in 2017 and has endeavored to revive it, said with the addition later of Big Lots the Westgate Town Center will have about 23,000 square feet left to fill.
Mr. Kiezi said at this time there are no prospective tenants to fill the remaining space. Originally the property was owned by the family of the late Herman Ross, of Farmington Hills, Mich., and once housed a 62,000 square foot Food Town Plus store and a 25,000 square food F&M Distributors store that closed in 2003 and 1996, respectively.
Recently, Mr. Kiezi and the owners of a Chick-fil-A restaurant that sits in front of the town center have been in a dispute of traffic congestion within the center by patrons of the restaurant. Demand for drive-thru service at the Chick-fil-A during the pandemic at times has led to congestion and parking problems for patrons of Last Call.
The two sides have been involved in litigation in Lucas County Common Pleas Court over the issue.
Mr. Day said that Big Lots was aware of the traffic congestion situation within the Westgate Town Center but is convinced that it will not be an issue when the company’s new store opens in August.
“We have been working with the landlord to ensure we have adequate parking and access,” Mr. Day said in an email response regarding the parking issue.
First Published March 30, 2021, 12:00 p.m.