Midway Mall

Midway Mall

Entrance to Midway Mall, July 2013
Location	Elyria, Ohio, USA
Opening date	1966
Closing date	2023
Developer	Richard E Jacobs Company
Management	Lorain County Port Authority
Owner	Lorain County Port Authority
No. of stores and services	27
No. of anchor tenants	1 (6 at peak)
Total retail floor area	940,174 sq ft (87,345 m2)
No. of floors	1 (2 in former Dillard’s, former JCPenney and former Sears)

Midway Mall is a 940,174 sq ft (87,345 m²) square foot regional shopping mall in Elyria, Ohio. Lorain County's only enclosed regional mall, it sits on Ohio State Route 57, about 1/8 mile from Interstate 80 (the Ohio Turnpike) and Interstate 90. As of 2023, with former anchor Dunham's Sports closing its branch there, it is a dead mall with only around 20 stores and services.

History

Developed by the Visconsi, Mead-Jacobs company, Midway Mall was originally slated to open in late August 1966^[1] but was delayed until September 22, 1966.^[2] Its anchor stores were Higbees, which opened August 1, 1966; JCPenney, September 29, 1966, and Sears, late 1967.^[1][2]

In 1995, Best Buy replaced Woolworth, which closed in 1994. Higbee's became Dillard's after being acquired in 1992. 

The mall was renovated in 1989. When completed in August 1990, there was a new wing with a new May Company Store, several stores, and a new food court. The May Company store became on Kaufmann's January 31, 1993, then Macy's on September 9, 2006.

In 2001, the Jacobs Group sold it as part of a divestment program to The Westfield Group, which renamed it Westfield Shoppingtown Midway. In spring 2006, Westfield announced that the mall did not fulfill their "strategic plan" and sold it in May 2006 to Centro Properties Group,^[3][4] which reverted the name to Midway Mall. Several years later, the mall was managed by The Woodmont Company.

Dillard's closed in 2007,^[5] Macy's in 2016,^[6] and Sears in 2017.^[7] In 2018, Johnny K's Power Sports moved into the former Macy's space.^[8] The mall was then owned and managed by Namdar Realty Group.

On February 28, 2019, it was announced that JCPenney would be closing as part of a plan to close 27 stores nationwide. The store closed on July 5, 2019.^[9]

On January 6, 2020, it was announced that Best Buy would close when its lease ran out. The store closed on March 7, 2020, leaving Dunham's Sports and Johnny K's Power Sports as the mall's only anchors.^[10]

On January 12, 2023, the Lorain County Port Authority voted to buy and develop the mall site.^[11]

External links

• Midway Mall official website
• Centro Properties https://www.midwaymallshopping.com/directory/

References

41°23′48″N 82°06′43″W / 41.39675°N 82.11188°W / 41.39675; -82.11188