TOLEDO -- Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner declared the demolition of the shuttered Southwyck Mall complete.
The mall ceased operations on June 29, 2008 after operating for 36 years. While the mall had been in decline for a number of years the coffin in the nail occurred in the spring of 2008 when an inspection of the mall by the Toledo Fire Dept uncovered a number of safety hazards.
In an afternoon press conference on Wednesday, Mayor Finkbeiner sounded optimistic that a new developer would come in and transform the vacant plot. "It's just a matter of time until the economy loosens up and some developer with deep pockets is going to say that this is a phenomenal neighborhood for us to go into," Mayor Finkebiner said.
In the immediate future residents in the mall vicinity can look to improvements on the roads surrounding the mall site. A total of $2.5M will be spent on new asphalt, pedestrian ramps and drainage improvements. The mayor hinted that had the demolition been done sooner the Southwyck site could have been chosen as the location of Toledo's new casino.
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