PIQUA — The Miami Valley Center Mall in Piqua has been sold and under new ownership is being renamed “The Piqua Center.”
“The Miami Valley Center Mall is now under new ownership!” according to a press release from the mall. “It has been acquired by a partnership between Bruns Construction Enterprises, a Western Ohio ESOP company that specializes in construction and real estate development and Caspian Group, a Minnesota based real estate investment company.”
The Shopping Mall located at 987 Ash St., which was built in 1988 was once a vibrant retail hub in the city of Piqua which had Sears and JC Penney as main anchors. With emergence of e-commerce in the last two decades these retailers struggled to adapt and were forced to close their doors which had severely negative impact on the Mall. Prior Mall ownership struggled to keep the property occupied and due to deferred maintenance and poor communication many smaller tenants were forced to move out as well.
Chris Schmiesing, Piqua economic development director, brought the parties together and was instrumental in putting the partnership together and advocating revitalization of the project.
The new ownership is planning to re-brand the property under a new name The Piqua Center. The goal is to revitalize the property through a major capital investment into tenant spaces, repairing and replacing all of the deferred maintenance and making the units affordable and accessible to the community, the release said. Partners are aligned on values and believe in raving fan tenant culture. The vision for the future is to bring the community together and build a vibrant center for entertainment sports and e-commerce. Specialty food courts and indoor markets have been growing quickly throughout the region.
“One of the first great opportunities for The Piqua Center could be to reinvigorate the food court using successful concepts like 2nd Street Market in Dayton and Budd Dairy Food Hall in Columbus” said James Edwards, development director, for Bruns Construction in the release.
The group believes there is a need for affordable space for specialty vendors, new food concepts and local entrepreneurs to test new concepts and grow into larger footprints in the Piqua Center. Having an innovation center at the heart of the building will help drive excitement, community engagement, and ultimately make The Piqua Center a lively and exciting place for commerce sports and entertainment.
New ownership welcomes any revitalization ideas from the community and will be hosting an open house in partnership with Kathy Sherman, director of local chamber of commerce. Through help of the supportive city administration collaborative effort with chamber of commerce and growing entrepreneur base, The Piqua Center can become an innovation center for a variety of retail entertainment and commercial uses.
A distillery, brewery, gun range, golf simulator, pickle ball courts and other experience-based retailers that need large footprints at reasonable rental rates would make excellent tenants for The Piqua Center, the release said.
For inquiries visit www.thepiquacenter.com or contact Saul Zenkevichus by phone at 630-742-4065 or by email at [email protected].
