Yahoo News Plaza resurgence seeing its ups and downs
Dec. 18—Some new tenants appear to be lined up for Shenango Commons.
However, a grocery store is no longer expected to be one of them.
Those developments at the former Lawrence Village Plaza were part of a good news-bad news update delivered Thursday by Shenango Township supervisors.
The 1960s-era shopping center had fallen into disrepair with half of its storefronts empty by the end of last year. In February, though, then-sole owner Dennis "Chip" Harrup entered into a public-private partnership with the township and three investors. Each of those investors purchased at least one portion of the facility, with Harrup retaining the southern wing of the shopping center.
Since then, efforts to update and revitalize the plaza have been ongoing. In November, supervisors believed that a grocery store — partially funded by a Fresh Foods Initiative grant — would be among the new tenants helping to spark a resurgence.
At Thursday's meeting, though, Supervisor Brandon Rishel said that no longer seems likely.
"That grant got reduced from a $250,000 maximum to a $50,000 maximum," he said. "That was a $1.3-million project, and to go from a quarter of a million dollars in federal funding to $50,000, even if we were successful in receiving it, I don't know that we would actually continue with the project because we're just that far off with the funding."
In better news, Rishel said, Studio 175 has agreed to move to a different location in the plaza, clearing the last hurdle for demolition that will allow a road to pass through Shenango Commons and into the township park behind it.
Rishel also said that two new tenants are expected to arrive in the first quarter of 2024, and developer Michael A. Wish — who owns the plaza's other wing as well as three other parcels — confirmed that expectation, although he is waiting on leases to be returned to him before announcing the names of the businesses.
Studio 175, a salon, is located near the elbow of the plaza, where Wish and supervisors plan to locate their road.
"Now that we're able to get Studio 175 moved, that will vacate that last piece that's there so that we can get the ball rolling on the demolition after April first," Rishel said. "And we have some great possibilities for end cap tenants on each one of those to bring that park vibe together."
In other positive developments, construction continues on the Coney Island restaurant being built by the DePorzio Restaurant Group, while Joe Saad's Pizza Joe's plaza location is expected to complete its move into the former PNC Bank building after the first of the year.
Progress elsewhere is slower
Rishel reported that some painting has been done and under-canopy lighting installed on Harrup's wing but when reached by phone Friday, Harrup said he had nothing more to report.
Rishel also said that while potential tenants are showing interest in some of the commons' smaller storefronts, the larger spaces — such as the former Kmart, which is part of Wish's properties, and the former Dunham's and T&M Hardware spots, which are Harrup's — are being passed over.
"Retailers right now aren't looking for the 40,000-square-foot spaces," he said. "Dunham's is a 28,000-square-foot space, and when you get up to Rocky's (a former supermarket that once occupied the T&M section), you're talking 40,000 square feet, and 87,000 square feet on the Kmart space.
"We're having a great success rate on stuff that's 5,000 and 7,000 square feet. We're having a terrible success rate once you start getting over 10,000 square feet."
Wish confirmed that the going is slow with the former Kmart.
"I fixed it up, I've got the thing advertised, but I'm being very passive about it," he said. "I've made a bunch of calls, but I haven't done what I do, which is grab it by the throat and choke it to death. I've got to figure out how to get at that."
Wish said that his experience with landing tenants for his developments has been mostly with "the more county-type stuff, the more regional stuff."
"But when you're talking about that kind of space, for the most part, you're talking about the big companies. I've had some interesting conversations, but this time of year, everything kind of slows down, so I'll rekindle those conversations in January."
Wish, though, remains pleased with what he's been able to accomplish so far.
"When we bought our section of the plaza, it was maybe 25 percent occupancy," he said. "Once we deliver these couple of spaces (for which he's waiting on the signed leases), it's going to be around 75 percent occupancy. So we're getting there.
"We've done a lot of heavy lifting; I think the place looks nice. I've still got to get the parking lot squared away, and the landscape, and we're still doing storefronts. But I think we're on the downhill slope of this thing."
And things rolling downhill tend to pick up momentum as they go.
"It's hard to rent a product that is a disaster, and that place was so bad," Wish said.
"But activity begets activity, and as people see others having success there, I think it will help."
