Sandusky to receive $40M retail center: Phase I includes anchors Aldi and Menards

Toledo Business Journal, Sep 2007

Construction is expected to begin this fall on Lakecrest Town Center, a $40 million retail and entertainment development. The project will take place on a 60-acre Perkins Township site in Erie County that formerly included the Bechtel-McLaughlin plant as well as adjacent properties. JRSMI, LLC has purchased the site on

Route 250 near the Sandusky Mall; Phase I will include confirmed anchor tenants, Aldi and Menards.

"We have been talking to. a lot of [potential tenants], but we really haven't made any attempt to do any more leasing or, in some cases, selling of parcels, because we want to get the public improvements in first. So, Aldi and Menards are enough to get the project started," stated Gary Marshall, general manager for Samuel Schaul Company, the leasing agent and project manager.

He explained that the project plans include a traditional retail component as well as an entertainment component, though details on the latter are not yet finalized.

"It's something a little bit different, and we think it's going to do very well," he added. "We've had a pretty good response for the idea of the entertainment component from a variety of different types of entertainment-oriented uses, which you would expect to be something that would be attractive in [the Sandusky area]."

Lakecrest will feature "boulevard shops" and, according to Marshall, a mixed-use architectural environment with a town square effect. Aldi will be constructing its new prototype and Menards will be constructing its standard building.

"We're in the process of adjusting the architecture to reflect the two anchors," Marshall stated.

According to Marshall, the development is unique project for Samuel Schaul, because the firm does not usually handle entire projects.

Rather, the company usually assembles the land then brings in the anchor tenants.

'This is the second project that we've been involved in from the ground up," Marshall explained. "We were involved in doing a lot of the leasing and the land assemblage fora strip in Canton (Ohio). But we usually just do land assemblage. The reason we're [more] involved in [the Lakecrest project] is because JRSMI is an investment group, it's not a developer. So, we're performing those services for the investment group. Normally we wouldn't take [the project] from cradle to grave."

Phase I, expected to create an $18 million investment, will includeAldi and Menards as well as public improvements such as utilities and road construction.

Fortney & Weygandt, Inc. is the general contractor for the project, though other contractors maybe hired for the separate tenants as Lakecrest moves forward.

The project will receive a $618,000 loan from the Brownfield Revolving Loan Fund for the remediation and redevelopment of the former Bechtel-McLaughlin site. The approval from the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD) is subject to completion of pre-loan closing activities and further consideration by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), which has final granting authority. The loan will be utilized by JRSMI for Phase I of the Lakecrest project.

"The Lakecrest Town Center project is significant not only for job creation and economic expansion for Perkins Township but also for the revitalization of an abandoned industrial site into thriving commercial use," stated Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher, who is also director of the Ohio Department of Development. "The State is proud to offer assistance to communities through brownfield programs and loans, which utilize existing infrastructure and preserve greenspace while generating economic growth."

The brownfield loan from the Ohio Department of Development, with approval from the US EPA, will be used to conduct remediation and demolition activities at the 20.95-acre former metal plating operations site. Phase I of the project and commercial tenants are expected to create 106 jobs.