Cincinnati Mills

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Facts and statistics
Cincinnati Mills

Location	Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Opening date	1989
Developer	L. J. Hooker
Management	Simon Property Group
Owner	Simon Property Group
No. of stores and services	approx. 200
No. of anchor tenants	16 (15 open, 1 vacant)
Total retail floor area	1,500,000 square feet (139,354.6 m²)
No. of floors	2
Website	http://cincinnatimills.com

Cincinnati Mills, formerly Forest Fair Mall, is a shopping mall in the northern suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, at the junction of Interstate 275 and Gilmore Road (Exit 39). Currently, Cincinnati Mills is a two-story enclosed mall comprising more than 150 stores, as well as a food court and two movie theaters; anchor stores include Babies "R" Us, Bass Pro Shops, Berean Christian Stores, bigg's, Burlington Coat Factory, Guitar Center, Kohl's, Metropolis, Off 5th, Steve & Barry's University Sportswear, Urban Behavior, and Wonderpark.^[1]

Developed by Australia-based real estate franchise L. J. Hooker, the mall opened as Forest Fair Mall in phases between 1988 and 1989. At first, it featured three upscale department store chains which had not previously operated in the Cincinnati area; by 1990, the three chains had all declared bankruptcy and closed. Hooker sold the mall in 1991, and it passed through several changes in ownership and anchor tenants; by the late 1990s, Forest Fair Mall was a dead mall, with fewer than thirty-five inline tenants remaining.

Maryland-based management firm Mills Corporation purchased the mall in 2002, forcing out the few remaining non-anchor tenants before closing off the entire mall for renovations. In 2004, the property was re-opened as Cincinnati Mills, a discount-oriented mall. Currently, Cincinnati Mills is managed by Simon Property Group, which acquired the entire Mills portfolio in 2007.

1 History
2 References
3 External links

Developer George Herscu, head of the Australian-based real estate firm L. J. Hooker, first proposed to build a mall in Cincinnati, Ohio in the mid-1980s.^[2] Originally, his mall plans called for discount department stores such as TJ Maxx and Marshalls; these plans were later changed to include primarily upscale merchants. Three high-end department store chains -- B. Altman, Bonwit Teller, and Sakowitz, none of which had ever operated in Ohio before -- were proposed as anchor stores. The three chains were uninterested, so in 1987, Herscu bought controlling interest in the three chains.^[3]^[4] In addition to these three department stores, discount retailer bigg's and Elder-Beerman, a mid-range department store, were signed on as anchors.

Construction began on Forest Fair Mall in 1986. The east wing opened in July of 1988, but due to leasing complications, the rest of the mall did not open until March of the next year.^[3]^[4] The mall featured an ornate design, including skylights, arched copper roofs, and a spacious center court. Entertainment venues at the mall comprised a movie theater, and an indoor amusement park called Time Out on the Court, which included a ferris wheel and indoor carousel.^[3]

Despite a strong start, the mall started to falter less than a year after opening. In September 1989, L.J. Hooker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The B. Altman, Bonwit Teller, and Sakowitz chains proved to be too upscale for the market, and by 1990 all three had closed at the mall; B. Altman and Sakowitz also closed all other stores.^[4]

In January of 1991, Hooker sold the mall to seven lenders, who then formed a partnership called FFM Limited Partnership, which hired veterans of the retail industry to run Forest Fair Mall.^[5] At the time, the mall was nearly half vacant, and attracting new tenants proved difficult. Nearby centers, most notably Tri-County Mall, were expanding and adding new tenants, thus cutting further into Forest Fair's market; however, FFM Limited Partnership was able to bring in Parisian as a new anchor store.^[5]

A "Malls at Forest Fair" concept was introduced in 1992. This concept divided the mall into four retail themes: fashion, lifestyle, value, and entertainment. An $8 million expansion was completed in August 1993, adding an entertainment complex called Festival at Forest Fair in the former Bonwit Teller space. Kohl's replaced the former B. Altman in September of 1994, helping to bring the mall's occupancy up over 75%.^[4]

Despite the increase in occupancy brought on by the opening of Kohl's, Forest Fair Mall was sold in 1995. Gator Forest Park Partners, Ltd., of Miami bought the mall in 1996, pledging to invest $10 million in improvements by 1999.^[4] Glimcher Properties Trust acted as a leasing agent,^[6] helped shift the mall's focus to primarily discount-oriented tenants.^[7]

Berean Christian Stores was signed on as a junior anchor in October 1997. Parisian closed in 1998, with Bass Pro Shops taking its place within a year. Several big box tenants were also added to Forest Fair Mall's roster over the next two years, including Guitar Center, Burlington Coat Factory, Bed Bath & Beyond, Off 5th and Media Play.^[4] Time Out was then replaced with a smaller family entertainment center called Namco Wonderpark.

Despite the addition of several larger-format stores, the mall had seen many of its inline tenants close. In 2002, only thirty-five stores remained open; that year The Mills Corporation purchased the property for $64 million, and further renovations were put on hold. Mills forced out all of the remaining tenants except for the anchor stores and theaters, and the concourses were closed off.^[3] Elder-Beerman also closed at this point; the store was later home to a store called Johnny's Toys, and later replaced with Steve & Barry's University Sportswear (which had re-located from the spot currently occupied by Urban Behavior).

After a $70 million renovation by the Mills Corporation, the former Forest Fair Mall reopened on August 19, 2004 as Cincinnati Mills. Media Play closed a year later, and is currently vacant. In April of 2007, the entire Mills portfolio was acquired by Simon Property Group of Indianapolis, Indiana.^[8]