The Toledo area apparently is in line for its fifth regional mall, as a local developer and a national shopping mall firm said yesterday they will buy 430 acres in western Maumee and build an upscale mall on it. His partner in the venture, General Growth Properties, of Chicago, confirmed yesterday that it will buy 130 acres from Mr. Issac and use that property to build a mall. Shawn Ingall, a General Growth spokesman, could not provide details yesterday on construction or design plans for the mall. But she said the company was not buying the land to hold it for possible later development. Traditionally, we buy land and build on it.
Land is just too expensive.
We don't hold onto land. Initially, the commercial development arm of J.C. Penney worked on the project with General Growth and it was expected the department store chain would have one of the anchors, giving it presence in an area of the county where it has no stores. However, Mr. Issac said yesterday he did not know whether General Growth's plans had changed. All I can say is that we are committed to buying the property, and they are committed to buying some of that property from us. The site, formerly a part of Monclova Township but annexed by Maumee in 1994, was part of 1,187 acres bought by the city of Toledo in 1987.