COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- The city of Columbus and the owners of Eastland Mall have reached an agreement and finalized plans for the closed shopping center's demolition.
Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein said the agreement requires the mall's owners to present detailed plans for demolition, including a contract for asbestos containment, by Nov. 30 and finish its full demolition by Sept. 15, 2025. Klein said the court-ordered plan prioritizes timely demolition while minimizing the impact on adjacent buildings.
Klein and the city first filed a case against Eastland Mall Holdings LLC, the site's owners, in April 2021 for health and safety code violations. The mall closed permanently in December 2022 after a court declared the space a public nuisance. In June, the city began fining the shuttered mall's owners $1,000 per day for every day the property's code violations were not addressed, on top of $13,750 in additional or pre-existing fines.
Klein said as of Thursday, the owners still had not paid any court-ordered fines or made the required adjustments to make the site code-compliant. With a $1,000 per day fine, Eastland Mall Holdings LLC would owe $175,750 in total to date.
According to court documents, Eastland Mall Holdings LLC must submit all permit applications for demolition by Dec. 31. By Feb. 28, the court order requires Eastland Mall owners to obtain all necessary permits, and the first phase of demolition is scheduled to be completed by May 31. The agreement also requires the owners to make a $350,000 deposit to the court, which will fund the contractors in full.
Two other property owners, GSP Hamilton Road LLC and IGWT Properties, own structures connected to Eastland Mall and must consent to the demolition. GSP operates two adjacent charter schools, and IGWT is renovating its property to become a global market. Lack of cooperation from these two entities will not be the fault of Eastland Mall, according to court documents.
To help avoid holdups from neighbors, the second phase of demolition is delayed to minimize the effect on Eastland Preparatory Academy, a K-8 charter school that shares a wall with the defunct mall. The final demolition is scheduled for the academy's summer break, to begin May 31 and finish by Sept. 15.
If the owners fail to meet any of the requirements, the city can immediately motion the court to appoint a receiver to take over the property. If placed in receivership, a neutral third party would assume control of Eastland Mall and oversee the demolition process. Eastland Mall owners are not able to appeal if this happens and do not have to be notified in advance.
The demolition helps clear the way for the Eastland Community Plan, a city project working to draft the future of the Eastland neighborhood. According to notes from the third and final public meeting on the plan, proposals emphasize quality of life, green spaces and communal centers. One draft for the space Eastland Mall inhabits would build a community hub in its place, complete with residential, recreational, retail and outdoor spaces.
