New York-based Kohan Retail Investment Group purchased the Lima Mall from Washington Prime Group for $12 million, according to Allen County Recorder’s Office records.
David Trinko | The Lima News
LIMA — A New York-based investment company will see if it can improve the fortunes of the 57-year-old Lima Mall.
Lima Mall Realty Holding LLC, a part of Kohan Retail Investment Group, bought the mall from Washington Prime Group and Mall at Lima LLC for $12 million. The deal was noted Monday by the Allen County Recorder’s Office.
It’s been a challenging stretch since Columbus-based Washington Prime Group spun off from one-time Lima Mall owner Simon Properties in 2005. The company declared bankruptcy in March 2021 before emerging that October as a privately held company led by SVPGlobal.
In the past seven years, the mall lost three of its anchor stores. Macy’s closed in March 2021. Sears shuttered its doors in September 2018 after 53 years at the mall. Elder-Beerman locked it doors in January 2016. No long-term retailer filled those spaces since.
JCPenney remains the lone anchor store in the Lima Mall, which houses 37 businesses, according to LimaMall.com, including 11 local small businesses.
Details about future plans weren’t available Thursday. Kohan Retail Investment Group didn’t return messages left at its offices by deadline Thursday.
Cynthia Leis, Allen Economic Development Group’s director of business development, said via email the Allen County Port Authority was notified about the change in ownership. AEDG will also be in contact with someone from the new company “in an effort to continue the conversation about future development,” Leis wrote.
Jessica Begonia, Lima’s public information officer for Mayor Sharetta Smith, declined to comment about the sale.
Kohan Retail Investment Group is a shopping mall investment company in Great Neck, New York, according to its website. It has 60 malls listed on its website, but Lima wasn’t listed among them yet Thursday afternoon.
The group already owns two Ohio properties, the Findlay Village Mall in Findlay and Ashtabula Towne Square in Ashtabula. It previously owned the Miami Valley Centre Mall in Piqua before selling it last month to Bruns Construction Enterprises and Caspian Group, a Minnesota-based real estate company. They renamed it The Piqua Center.
The purchase includes 46.4 acres and 652,254 square feet of shopping mall space at 2400 Elida Road, where the mall originally opened in 1965. It was valued at $17.45 million in 2017, according to the Allen County Auditor’s Office website.
The deal also includes another 15.1 acres with 201,912 square feet of space in the former Macy’s location at 2600 Elida Road. It was built as a Lazarus store in 1971 before becoming Macy’s in 2003. That property was valued at a peak of $8.16 million in 2009 but sold for just $3 million when Lazarus Real Estate II sold it to Mall at Lima LLC for $3 million in October 2020.
Washington Prime Group continues to own Lima Center, a strip of stores behind the mall property. Lima Center includes 209,200 square feet of retail space, including Five Below, Kohl’s and T.J. Maxx. Washington Prime Group declined to comment about the sale of the Lima Mall.
CURRENT LIMA MALL TENANTS
Current tenants at the Lima Mall include:
• Aeropostale
• American Eagle Outfitters
• Bath & Body Works
• Books-A-Million
• Buckle
• Cell Fix
• Claire’s Accessories
• Creative Eyebrows
• Crown Jewelers
• Custom Factory
• Essentials II
• Finish Line
• Firestone
• Flip Training Center
• Foot Locker
• Francesca’s Collections
• For Your Entertainment
• Glow Golf
• GNC
• Hibbett Sports
• Hot Topic
• JCPenney
• Journeys
• Kay Jewelers
• Lids
• Luxury Nails & Spa
• Maurices
• Old Navy
• rue21
• Shoe Dept. Encore
• Spencer Gifts
• The Amazing Space
• The Children’s Place
• The Fragrance Place
• The Hero Day
• Total Revolution Training Facility
• Unique Creations
Source: LimaMall.com
Reach David Trinko at 567-242-0467 or on Twitter @Lima_Trinko.
