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Toledo drafts purchase agreement to buy former Southwyck Mall property

A purchase agreement, subject to City Council approval, has been created to allow the city of Toledo to take control of the former Southwyck Mall property.
1 of 2 conceptual drawing released by City of Toledo. Officials want to turn Southwyck into an office headquarters.

TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) - The City of Toledo has drafted a 120-day purchase agreement to buy the former Southwyck Mall property for $3 million.

The purchase agreement, created by Louisville Title & Trust, is subject to City Council approval. The City now controls the property.

According to the terms of the agreement, the purchase price is $3,000,209, or $51,290 an acre, which is far below the listing price of $72,900 an acre.

The vision of the City is for the site to be used as office headquarters. Two conceptual drawings have been created.

The drawings show two corporate headquarters buildings, with commercial and green space as well as parking.

"I think it will help business around here. Spruce it up," said David Loo, who owns the Golden Lilly Restaurant across the street from the Southwyck property.

His business has been here for three years and looks forward to new life along the Reynolds Road corridor.

"At least it would bring more traffic to the area. Sometimes it's slow. Not all the time, but sometimes," he said.

City of Toledo officials released a statement Sunday morning that read, "The City of Toledo is optimistic that with the property now being under the control of one owner, that discussions concerning possible development at the site will now be able to move forward. Given the former Southwyck Shopping Center's location at one of the key entrance points to the City, this area is a priority for Mayor Collins and his administration."

In the last 7 years, the City has spent more than $7 million to update the infrastructure surrounding the Southwyck property.

"There's a lot going on with the Reynolds Road corridor, in the last five or six years you've seen an investment of 36 million dollars between the public and private side, so this is just the next domino in terms of development out there," said Matt Sapara, director of Toledo Economic and Business Development. "But obviously this is such a large tract of land that any use out there would bring a lot of jobs."

Southwyck Shopping Center first opened on August 3, 1972. It closed on June 29, 2008, nearly 36 years later.

The mall has been torn down since then and the land has been empty ever since, filled mostly with weeds.

At-large Councilman Rob Ludeman lives in the area and says he see a very bright future for this part of Toledo.

"Coming in off the turnpike, they start seeing the landscaping," he said. "They don't see the Clarion anymore. They see good, solid development, the new At Home store. They're gonna start saying, 'Wow, Toledo's the place to be!'"

The City now has four months to decide whether or not to move forward with their plans.

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