Reynolds Road / US 20 and Glendale Avenue
Toledo, Ohio
Planning for Greater Toledo's third shopping mall began in 1965, when officials of the Toledo-based Lion Store consulted with the developers of Hawthorn Hills, a planned community in the city's southwestern environs. In the late 1960s, Kansas City, Missouri's MD Management came on board the project. This company, headed by Sherman Dreiseszun and Frank Morgan, had envisaged Kansas' METCALF SOUTH CENTER (1967) and also developed Colorado's BUCKINGHAM SQUARE (1971).
SOUTHWYCK CENTER would be built on 65 acres, located 6.5 miles southwest of center city Toledo. The enclosed complex would be comprised of a single retail level and cover approximately 874,000 leasable square feet, housing 108 retail spaces.
When completed, the mall featured imported terrazzo flooring. Its four corridors converged on a Center Court, covered with a 100-foot diameter acrylic-panel dome. Beneath this was a reflecting pool, planters and carpeted amphitheater. Anchoring SOUTHWYCK CENTER were a 2-level (190,000 square foot) The Lion Store, 2-level (90,000 square foot), Lamson's of Toledo and 2-level (137,400 square foot) Montgomery Ward. This store, the first full-line Ward's in the region, included a freestanding Auto Center.
Forty-eight stores and services opened for business on August 3, 1972. These included the three aforementioned anchors, as well as Winkelman's ladies' wear, Disc Records, Lane Discount Drugs, Trouser Bar, Hickory Farms of Ohio, Albert's Sportswear, Bresler's 33 Flavors Ice Cream, Frederick's of Hollywood, Grinnell's Music and Pet Bazaar.
The grand opening festivities included music by the Cake Walkin' Jass Band, a presentation by the 180th TAC Fighter Group Color Guard and performance of "The Star Spangled Banner" by the Metropolitan Opera's Giorgio Tozzi. Harry Kessler (Mayor of Toledo) was on hand to cut a ceremonial ribbon, assisted by Cynthia Lenardson, "Miss Toledo 1972."
Shopping mall movie theater history was made on August 4, 1972, with the grand opening of the American Multi-Cinema Southwyck 7 Theatres, which was the world's first 7-plex. It was reconfigured as the Southwyck 8 Theatres in 1976, with one of the original auditoriums being twinned.
The primary retail rivals in the early years of SOUTHWYCK CENTER were WOODVILLE MALL (1969) {9.3 miles east, in Northwood}, FRANKLIN PARK MALL (1971) {6.2 miles north, in Toledo} and NORTH TOWNE SQUARE (1980) {10.4 miles northeast, also in Toledo}.
The original anchor store line up at SOUTHWYCK CENTER changed with the November 1976 shuttering of Lamson's of Toledo. After a 4 million dollar renovation, the store re-opened, as a Lion Store For The Home, on April 19, 1978. The original The Lion Store was also remodeled and renamed The Lion Fashion Store. It was re-dedicated in June 1979.
A 15,000 square foot space, adjacent to Lane Discount Drugs, had been used for storage during the mall's first 3 years in business. It was rebuilt as Old Towne, a 57-stall mall within a mall, which opened for business November 10, 1975. The ceiling of Old Town was painted black and punctuated by phosphorescent stars. There were also park benches, planters and a small fountain at its center. This mini-mall closed in the mid-1980s and was replaced by the American Multi-Cinema Southwyck 3, which showed its first features October 4, 1985. It would eventually operate as the Southwyck Art Cinema.
With Dillard's acquisition of Mercantile Stores, in August 1998, the Lion Store chain was dissolved. The two SOUTHWYCK CENTER Lion Stores were rebranded, as a conventional Dillard's and Dillard's For the Home, in May 1999.
Meanwhile, SOUTHWYCK was facing increasing competition. SPRING MEADOWS PLACE (1987) {1.4 miles northwest, in Holland} opened in 1987. SHOPS AT FALLEN TIMBERS {4 miles southwest, in Maumee} was dedicated in 2007. An expansion at FRANKLIN PARK MALL, completed in August 1993, also hastened the decline of SOUTHWYCK CENTER. In early 1994, several charter tenants, whose 20-year leases had expired, shuttered their stores.
Much of this store exodus could be attributed to rental rates at the mall, which had quadrupled since the shopping center's 1972 debut. Another contributing factor in the mall's decline was the lack of any major renovations over the years. The only improvements done, such as the installation of new lighting and a Center Court Carousel, were not enough to keep the complex up-to-date.
Montgomery Ward's closing, in March 2001, left SOUTHWYCK with a vacant anchor space that would never be retenanted. This was followed by the shuttering of Dillard's For the Home, in July 2003. This store space would also never re-open. The mall now had just one anchor -a standard Dillard's- to sustain it. The Southwyck 8 Theatres had gone dark in 1996, followed by the closing of the Southwyck Art Cinema, in June 2001.
In October 2002, a 20 million dollar mall renovation was proposed, which would have added 91,000 square feet of new stores, installed a Food Court in existing space and moved a Sears into the empty Ward's. This project never got off the ground.
SOUTHWYCK CENTER was on life support by the time a second remodeling was proposed, in August 2007. A complex known as VILLAGE AT SOUTHWYCK was envisaged, that would be anchored by the existing Dillard's. Unfortunately, the Little Rock retailer decided to move their store to a new location. The SOUTHWYCK Dillard's closed for good in November 2007, in effect, throwing a monkey wrench into the mall's prospective retail renaissance.
The last four operational stores, Deb Shops, World Nail, GNC and The Box Shoppe, closed on June 29, 2008. Asbestos abatement got underway in March 2009. A wrecking ball began demolition soon after, leaving the empty Dillard's and Montgomery Ward structures temporarily standing. These would be leveled in October 2010.
Redevelopment of the property was stymied by The Great Recession and the fact that the Greater Toledo retail market was fully saturated. The City of Toledo acquired the vacant tract in 2014 and began trying to market it to investors.
A tentative deal was signed to sell the property to an "undisclosed buyer" in June 2016. It was postulated that a mixed-use complex of office space and residential units could be built. This deal eventually fell through. In the meantime, the former mall site, which city officials renamed "Hawthorne Hills," sat deserted and growing weeds.
Sources:
The Toledo Blade
http://www.labelscar.com
http://www.toledotalk.com
http://www.movietheatre.org / Mike Rivest
https://www.jupmode.com
