SWIFTON CENTER
Reading Road / US 42 and 25 and Seymour Avenue
Cincinnati, Ohio
Plans for Cincinnati's first shopping mall were announced in February 1951. A prospectus was presented to the City Planning Commission by the Jonathan Woodner Company, of Washington, DC. In March, the Woodner Company held a groundbreaking at a 41-acre site, located 6.7 miles northeast of Fountain Square, in the Bond Hill district of the city.
The 1,200-unit Swifton Village apartment complex was being built as a first phase of a combination retail and residential development. The first 116 Swifton Village units were completed by May 1952. Construction of the SWIFTON CENTER shopping mall was scheduled to commence after completion of the apartment complex, but would be delayed for several years.
An initial design for SWIFTON CENTER was envisaged by Morris Ketcham of New York City's Ketcham, Gina & Sharp firm. The open-air mall would include a 3-level department store, 5-level medical center and 11-story office building. A bomb shelter would also be built on the lower level of the mall.
Progress was delayed by controversy and government red tape. A citizens group protested encroachment of a commercial facility in a residential area. There were also zoning issues. The original plan had to be revised several times. In November 1953, the Woodner Company tried, unsuccessfully, to get the local Zoning Board of Appeals to issue a building permit. In the meantime, Cincinnati's Rollman & Son's department store agreed to anchor the shopping hub with their first branch location.
The Woodner Company threw in the proverbial towel in December 1954. They sold their interest in SWIFTON CENTER to New York City's Stahl Development Company. In January 1955, Knoxville, Tennessee's Guilford Glazer emerged as a joint venture partner. Glazer established full ownership of the project in September 1955, forming the General Development Corporation to own and manage the property.
Meanwhile, ground had been broken for SWIFTON CENTER on June 10, 1955. New plans had been drawn by Knoxville's David B. Liberman, who had designed Eastern Tennessee's OAK RIDGE BUSINESS DISTRICT. After over 5 years of planning and construction, SWIFTON CENTER was formally dedicated on October 24, 1956. A ceremonial ribbon was cut by Mrs. Charles P. Taft, wife of the Mayor of Cincinnati.
The new mall covered approximately 486,000 leasable square feet and housed forty-seven stores and services. A 3-level (150,000 square foot) Rollman's anchored the south end of the facility. Charter stores included Max's Gentry Shops, Franklin Simon, Lillian's, The Cotton Shops, National Shirt Shops, Loft's Candies, Pennington's Cafeteria, Rogers Toy Shop and Squires, Incorporated.
On the Langdon Level (or Lower Floor) were a Pasquale's Pizza Carry-Out, Hill's Barber Shop, Juvenile Furniture and Slenderama Salon. A fallout shelter could accommodate 10,000 people. Eventually, there were a State (liquor) Store, Social Security Administration office and practices for several dentists and physicians.
Rollman's SWIFTON CENTER store was shuttered after only 4 years in business. Cincinnati-based Mabley & Carew renovated the building and opened, on November 21, 1960, as that chain's second branch. This store was rebranded by Dayton-based Elder-Beerman on August 10, 1978.
At one point, there were only five tenants in business at SWIFTON CENTER, which had space for nearly seventy. The complex sat practically vacant for several years. Then, a 12 million dollar renovation was undertaken by a joint venture of the Youngstown-based Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation and Jerome Glazer of New Orleans. A newly-remodeled -and renamed- SWIFTON COMMONS was dedicated on September 4, 1985.
New stores included Lane Bryant, Kinney Shoes, SupeRx Drugs, Hancock Fabrics, National Record Mart, Regis Hairstylists, Waldenbooks, Zales Jewelers and J.J. Newberry. One of the features of the complex was its enclosed Treats Food Court, which featured vendors such as Gold Star Chili, Favorite Recipe, Sbarro Italian Eatery and Greek Isle.
This effort to reinvigorate the shopping venue was modestly successful for a time. However, by the late 1980s, the mall's marketing focus had changed to that of an "off price", "outlet store" -type facility. New tenants included Everything's $1, the $5 and $10 Store and Play Outlet sporting goods. Unfortunately, this marketing shift failed to revitalize the struggling shopping center.
The complex, which was renamed JORDAN CROSSING CENTER, included a branch of Wilberforce University and offices for the Cincinnati-Hamilton County Community Action Agency. These occupied the extensively-renovated shell of the old Rollman's / Elder-Beerman anchor store. A freestanding sanctuary, the Allen Temple AME Church, was built on a 4.5-acre section of the mall's northwest parking area. The new house of worship was dedicated in May 2004. Further renovations to the circa-1956 open-air mall were proposed but never carried out.
In its final years, JORDAN CROSSING CENTER housed retail tenants such as Derrick Allen's Beauty Salon, Deveroes Clothing, Family Printing & Design Center, Image Makers Barber Shop and Ike's Bar-B-Que. There were also offices for three non-profit organizations and five church sanctuaries.
By 2010, there was public concern about the partially vacant -and rapidly deteriorating- shopping mall. The plan was to demolish it and repurpose the property. 23 acres of the site were acquired by The Port of Cincinnati in February 2013. The MKSK firm was enlisted to design a mixed-use facility that would cost upwards of 75 million dollars.
A vacant Burger King, on the north end of the property, was knocked down in April 2013. Demolition of the mall proper began in August of the same year. The Allen Temple AME Church and Hamilton County Community Action Agency structures were left standing.
According to plan, the historic shopping center is to be replaced by MIDPOINTE CROSSING, a mixed-use facility that will include approximately 141,000 square feet of office space and 100,000 square feet of retail. Extended plans called for a 100-room hotel and several residential units. Unfortunately, the mall's redevelopment has progressed at a snail's pace. After 10 years, details are still being worked out. Meanwhile, the SWIFTON site sits vacant and growing weeds.
Sources:
"Swifton Mall Orphaned Giant Searching For Market, Future" / Cliff Peale, Cincinnati Post staff reporter)
preservenet.cornell.edu/publications/Longstreth Branch Store.doc
http://www.best-of-cincinnati.com
http://www.pfbarchitects.com / "Swifton Commons - 1994 Renovation, Cincinnati, Ohio" / PFB Architects, Incorporated
http://www.multihousingnews.com
http://www.bizjournals.com
"Swifton Center" article on Wikipedia
