Montz shares thoughts on Tiffin Mall — Could the ‘DEAD’ shopping center be on its way back?

TIFFIN, OH (TiffinOhio.net) — Mayor Montz shared his thoughts on the Tiffin Mall — after one Twitter user asked if we could get a “24 hour basketball court” inside it.

“can we get a 24hr basketball count inside or [sic] a mall lol,” Twitter user Anthonystahl tweeted to the Tiffin Mayor.

“A mall is never going to happen unfortunately, they’re dying virtually everywhere,” Montz said.

The Tiffin Mall opened in 1980 and was built by Developers Diversified Realty (DDR) based out of Cleveland, Ohio. In 2005, DDR constructed the movie theater now occupied by Cinemark, and they sold the mall in 2012 to the Kohan Retail Investment Group.

“Construction of new malls has nearly ceased entirely in the United States due to decrease in popularity and online shopping,” the Tiffin Mayor continued.

A mall is never going to happen unfortunately, they’re dying virtually everywhere. Construction of new malls has nearly ceased entirely in the United States due to decrease in popularity and online shopping. https://t.co/q5pskwIVuy

— Mayor Aaron Montz (@MayorMontz) June 9, 2019

As you may remember, the Tiffin Mall was purchased in 2016 by Key Hotel and Property Management, a Toledo-based real estate development and management company. The group purchased Tiffin Mall for $2.2 million from Tiffin Mall Realty, which itself is owned by the Kohan Retail Investment Group out of New York.

KHPM CEO Steve Roumaya had this to say about Tiffin: “For the last couple of years, the retail market has been hot in Tiffin, and we see that there is significant demand for additional shopping options,” he said.

Currently, the only new business slated to open its doors in the mall is Planet Fitness.

The 24-hour gym will reportedly be located in the former Dollar General and Label Shopper spaces. The facility is projected to open in mid-late 2019.

This will be the eighth facility for franchise owner Mark Christie. He said he has been looking at Tiffin for a two to three years, waiting on the right space. “We are very excited to come to the Tiffin market and provide a low price, high value option for community members to get into fitness,” he said.

KHPM CEO Steve Roumaya continued, “We look forward to working with all existing mall tenants as well as other area businesses to help them succeed, and we appreciate all the support we are receiving from the City of Tiffin and SIEDC.”