by Ellin Walsh
Reporter
Cuyahoga Falls -- "You can never get to second base if you don't take your foot off first."
Acting on that philosophy, Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don L. Robart wants the city to take "the bold step" of acquiring the State Road Shopping Center by eminent domain, so the city can sell the "languishing" site for redevelopment.
City Council apparently concurs, putting the shopping center's owners on notice by a 10-0 vote Oct. 1 that it intends to pass legislation initiating the eminent domain process. Councilmember Carol Klinger (R-at-large) abstained from voting because she is employed by Goodyear, which owns a tire store in the shopping center.
Eminent domain is the government's right to acquire private property for public use.
Calls to GMS Management Co. Inc., which manages the shopping center, were not returned. Phone calls to State Road Associates -- a partnership consisting of Stuart J. Graines and members of the Risman family, which owns the center -- were not returned by press time.
Robart says the city's "aggressive stance" follows years of trying to "cajole" the owners of the shopping center into investing in the property or selling it. In the meantime, the mayor says, the shopping center, which opened in the late 1950s, has continued to decline to the point that it is "a cancer in the community we need to remove."
"The thing's got to go and the timing is crucial," Robart says, explaining state law regarding eminent domain is set to change Oct. 10.
The new law, City Law Director Virgil E. Arrington Jr. says, will make it "more difficult, risky and expensive" for government to take private property for public use.
On Oct. 8, the Robart administration will ask City Council to authorize the filing of a court action initiating eminent domain proceedings against State Road Associates. The city would file the request with Summit County Probate Court the next morning, the mayor said.
The city has identified six parcels comprising the shopping center and adjacent retail strips it wants to acquire. In addition to the north and south sides of the plaza, State Road Associates also owns the land on which the Burger King and Arby's restaurants sit, plus the strip which houses the license bureau and adjacent Blockbuster Video store.
On Sept. 27, the city offered to buy the shopping center for $12.9 million, based on an appraisal it commissioned in June. Arrington said he made the offer to State Road Associates through its attorney, Timothy J. Grendell. During Council's Oct. 1 meeting, the law director said he had not received a formal response to that offer but added it "will remain open while we work through the eminent domain process." Attempts to contact Grendell were unsuccessful by press time.
Fruitless talks
City officials say they have been trying for months to facilitate a private deal between the owner of the shopping center and a potential developer, whom the law director declined to identify, Arrington said Oct. 1.
"We believe obtaining the center by eminent domain may help us in this effort," Arrington said, adding, "The State Road Shopping Center has been in a state of decline for many, many years now and businesses have been moving out and much of it is ... vacant."
Of the total gross leasable area in the plaza, 70.3 percent is currently vacant, according to Community Development Director Susan L. Truby.
The law director said there are two developers "very interested" in redeveloping the site.
"Unfortunately," according to Arrington, "there's been difficulty in getting the cooperation that we need from the current owners of the plaza in order to facilitate the deal."
"We've been working on this thing for what seems like forever," Robart said, adding, "Nothing of any ilk is going to come into that plaza in its current physical state." The mayor said he believes the shopping center should be razed and a mix of retail and residential development should take its place.
Arrington concurs that in order to accomplish what the city's redevelopment plan suggests, the site will need to be razed.
"I'm satisfied that this is the proper time to take this step," Councilmember Diana Colavecchio (D-5) , chairman of the community development committee, said.
"We don't want to take this by eminent domain," Councilmember Tim Gorbach (D-at-large) said; however, he noted the city has invested more than $7 million in improvements to the State Road corridor since the late 1990s in an attempt to revitalize the area.
"But we all hear it from citizens: 'What are you going to do there? What's going to happen?'" Gorbach said, adding, "... At some point, we've got to put our feet firmly in the ground on behalf of the residents of this community and tell them [the owners of the shopping center], 'That's enough. We're ready to push back.'"
E-mail: ewalsh@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-686-3908