Baseball facility, pop-up theater among 'nontraditional' Tuttle Crossing mall tenants
DUBLIN, Ohio (WCMH) -- The Mall at Tuttle Crossing is now home to several atypical tenants, like a baseball training facility and a pop-up theater, after being sold last year for nearly $20 million to a group of investment firms.
Hilliard All American Travel Baseball, a nonprofit youth travel baseball group, has taken over a 7,000-square-foot space inside the Dublin mall to use as an indoor training facility. Endeavor Theater, a local organization producing original plays, is renting out a space to put on "Tour de Lune," a new play that will be performed the first and second weekends of November.
The new tenants are joining the mall after Tuttle Crossing's sale to three New York investment firms -- Namdar Realty Group, CH Capital Group and Mason Asset Management -- who purchased the mall in October of 2023 for $19.5 million, according to the county auditor's office. The acquisition was far below the auditor's appraised value of the site, $49.7 million.
Tuttle Crossing is one of about 170 retail properties, including about 80 malls, owned by Namdar Realty Group and Mason Asset Management, named as "prolific real-estate partners" who operate struggling shopping districts after purchasing them for cheap, according to a profile by The Wall Street Journal.
"When national retailers move out, Namdar Realty and Mason try to replace them with nontraditional tenants such as call centers, local small businesses, doctors’ offices and bounce-house venues," the article states.
Other additions include pet store Pawsome Pups, printed products shop Custom Gifts, toy store Adorn'n Amaze, and smoke and vape shop Smokers World. Mall manager Steve Hinkle said in a statement that Tuttle Crossing "is committed to being a community-oriented mall and there have been a number of new stores and businesses interested in being part of the mix."
The new tenants are joining the mall after several national retailers closed their locations inside the shopping center. Clothing brand H&M, who was the largest tenant on the mall's second floor, shuttered their location in January. Youth apparel and accessory shop The Children's Place also closed its location on the first floor.
The three New York investment firms have ownership over Tuttle Crossing's lower and upper levels, a BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse on Tuttle Crossing Boulevard, and some of the site's parking lot. The mall's four anchor stores -- Macy's, JCPenney, entertainment venue Scene 75 and a former Sears location now vacant -- were not included in the purchase.