Southwyck as a rec center?

Hockeyfan's greatest dream: Ice Rink, no Tennis.

And their target customers would be ..........who?

I just drove the stretch of Reynolds from Dussel up to Central Ave. yesterday. Pretty bleak - especially from Heatherdowns to Airport.

I hate to be the one to pee in the punch bowl but this idea is going nowhere. But, I'll bet our mayor and city council just can't wait to piss away another $50k of our $$ and will grant the loan request. If $50k is what is preventing this company from moving forward, then I'd question their sincerity and ability to actually come up with the funds for such a grand plan.

I'll only charge them 10k to do a market study.

I'm shocked that the city managed to hold on to any money that was given to them in 2009...

There is a hotel and waterpark at the I-80/90 exit about 3/4 mile up the road. I guess people will stop going to that one, and start going to this one. More retail space in that area would further erode rent rates and increase vacancies.

Let's start with soccer fields and a parking lot. That would cost less than $50,000, and would take some strain off of the Schneider Road World Cup Tailgate Experience.

I play soccer down the street, behind jed's. It's always busy, they'll start games as late as 11pm. So yes, more indoor soccer fields please. The indoor facility in perrysburg stays busy, as well. But toledo doesn't have indoor soccer (not counting place at central/reynolds).
I've moved here a few years ago so all i've ever seen there is rubble. It would be great to see something like this put in - hopefully revitalize the area.

In addition, there's the Maumee Sports Mall right up (down?) the road too. So essentially you'll have three recreation facilities within approximately a mile of each other.

For $100,000... I will develop soccer fields, parking, some trees and A DOG PARK!!!
Plus, a space for food vendors.
Screw retail. Plant some dam grass.

Shut the joint down at dark and hose it off.

"Southwyck Park"

The city has an enormous mowing crew now, if you remember.

I go there to hit Gold Balls at the driving range.

Just to clarify - I was putting this post out there for informative purposes.

I'm not sure what I think about the idea yet. (A little skeptical, but I'd want to see more details before dismissing the idea.)

It would be unlikely that my family would get much use out of it, as I already live close to soccer/baseball/ice via Pacesetter & Tam-o-Shanter.

But, it would be interesting to hear the thoughts of a family that does live near that area. Isn't that Sensor's neck of the woods?

Well anything is better than what's there, but whatever goes there needs to be viable.

Toledo could use another ice hockey arena. Getting ice time can at a decent hour can be a challenge. I don’t know about indoor soccer, but those who play think they need more time, then that sounds like a winner too.

For those who think the area is too run down to build something, then how are you ever going to build anything? It’s got to start somewhere. If $50k is what it takes to figure this thing out, then it’s money well spent. Without something there, I’m guessing Toledo will stand to lose a lot more than $50k in property taxes with re-adjustments in the neighborhoods around it.

Hey maybe they could put a cabela's or bass pro!

I still wonder what will become of Northtown and with Raceway park closing soon that whole section is dying.

Too close to Dundee and Rossford.

Those are destination stores that draw heavily from the Toledo area already.

Not the kind of chains where you'll find more than one store in a region.

(Chuckling a little, because my 7 year old son asked me yesterday why there is a Rite Aid on almost every corner around here. The kid is observant, I'll give him that. LOL)

Hey! Probably not - since we have one of each within an hour's drive - 20 minutes for Bass Pro.

Forgive me for my sarcasm. Wont happen again.

LOL...I might have noticed the sarcasm if you'd also mentioned Ikea. ;)

(I'm usually good at picking up on regular TT users sarcasm...guess I just don't "know" your posting style well enough yet.)

^^
I'm "not" sure "why" I put "know" in "quotes" above.

(If I had also used all caps, I'd thinking I was channeling a certain other TTer.)

How about a giant Willy Nelson biodiesel truck stop.

(Sigh...today is not my day when it comes to typos. I should give up and go home.)

So the horse farm idea still has a chance.

Terrible idea...Toledo's population is shrinking...there is (with the exception of the hockey rink) all of those facilities within a mile or two. The Maumee Sports Mall, a waterpark, etc. There are even hotels. Look at the Clarion and the Genesis Dreamplex. Heck...the city just recently gave $ to the group running the Dreamplex

Realistically, look at the surrounding area. There is a boarded up Kmart. The Clarion has smashed windows...they also only cut the grass there once this summer. Bad idea.

Excerpts from only a few old Southwyck-related posts:

February 2003 thread titled Southwyck mall area, a business disaster that pointed to a Toledo Blade editorial :

State of the City speeches :

• Jack Ford - January 2003 : "We will reach a deal on the revitalization of Southwyck Mall."

• Jack Ford - February 2004 : "On Southwyck, John Loftus is working full time on the redevelopment of this South Toledo mall."

• Jack Ford - January 2005 : "And we continue to target Southwyck. We have appraised the property, and are pushing the owners to sell. Our goal is to bring developers in to transform this south Toledo facility."

• Carty Finkbeiner - February 2006 : "Projects like Westgate and Southwyck are cornerstones of their respective neighborhoods and their completion will sustain and improve the quality of life in West and South Toledo."

• Carty Finkbeiner - December 2006 : "We want to redevelop and reinvigorate, not only the Southwyck Mall in this $125 million project, but the entire Reynolds Road corridor."

• Carty Finkbeiner - February 2008 : <no mention of Southwyck>

July 2005 Toledo Blade - Deal reached to rejuvenate Southwyck - Perrysburg developer plans $100M open-air retail plaza

Southwyck was demolished in 2009.

From Carty's 2005 mayoral campaign promises

November 2005 thread that pointed to a WTOL story titled Southwyck Plans Unveiled

November 2011 thread that pointed to a WTOL story titled Mayor Bell announces potential plans for Southwyck Mall property

July 2009 comment

I guess patience is needed for some of these fancy projects.

Toledo's new arena will open this fall, 2009. Ideas about a new arena development with plans began to be offered in 1993.

Perrysburg's Levis Commons opened in the fall of 2004, and development continues on this multi-phased project. But Larry Dillin said talks about the Levis Commons project began in 1990.

The Rossford Bass Pro opened in the summer of 2008, but talks about this project between Bass Pro and Wood County began in 1992.

Switch over to the Marina District project, I think talks about this development began about 2000, so it's still early for that project.

Wait a minute Justread...according to many here, creating more of something merely increases the synergy of a particular area. If the amount of retail along Reynolds quadruples, it will good for property values. :)

There aren't 2 empty hotels in the area, there are 3.

6th Floor...I agree with you. Is "desyngery" a word? The new Southwyck may be incredibly nice, but what about the horrid area around it? How many of the 70's style office buildings on Southwyck Blvd. are sitting empty?

Also, not to be facetious, but how many projects can the city throw money at at once?

1. The city foray into "affordable" housing via block grants to "community organizations." We have seen how that went.

2. The Dorr Street revitalization. With the Brownstones on Dorr, I thought this was to be a huge revitalization push by the city as this was the "gateway" between downtown and UT.

3. The Marina District. 'Nuff said.

With our shrinking population, any new retail or office space simply takes away from existing retail or office space. It is a zero sum game.

Horrible fucking idea. This kind of shit makes me want to move to Monclova.

The Clarion (or know it should be called the "Carrion") on Reynolds is a pet peeve of mine. They owe the city taxes, they don't cut their grass, etc. When I suggested on this board that the city should pursue them harshly for back taxes and broken windows, it was stated here that this would make Toledo seem "unfriendly" to business.

http://genesisvillage.org/events/renovation-grandopening When is this happening? I must have missed it!

Dappling, just remember to vote against every levy this fall and thereafter in protest.

Also remember the money that has been wasted putting a bunch of park benches, light posts, decorative flags, and garbage cans along Summit Street. The same thing type of waste happened in the "Polish Village."

Meanwhile both areas have numerous blocks filled with closed businesses and abandoned buildings.

Instead of one big store, how about a bunch of little stores? All under the same roof. They could call it Southwyck Shoppi....oh, nevermind.

I agree that if you are actually going to revitalize... you know... vegas style...(out with the old) you can use the new property to stabilize the area. But if you just build a new thing in the middle of 1970s crap construction that is now run down and abandoned, and renting at dirt rates, it won't work.

You know how cheap those southwyck offices are? Supa cheap. Supply and demand at work.

I would only support this idea if they included at least three new Mexican restaurants in the package.

Southwyck is dead. Period. There probably won't be a significant reversal in that area during our lifetimes. Fallen Timbers Mall and Levis Commons buried all hopes for a SW recovery.

I like the idea of the supply/demand mechanism being allowed to work. The offices must not be cheap enough yet, for I still notice many for lease signs.

Wonder if Raceway park would be interested in moving there ;/

You don't pay attention, do you? Horse racing = gambling, and they want to put up slots/video terminals, which they can't do with the casino now in town and all that. Penn National pretty much _has) to move Raceway out of town.

Way too much negativity. Because it looks run down around the area, we can't put something new in. There is no incentive to fixed the run down area as long as it's Southwyck is empty.

There is no reason the a new sports facility can't work. Again, we could use another ice house. The Roth Park is packed in the summer.

http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2012/07/02/Penn-National-makes-request-official-to-move-Raceway-Park-to-Dayton.html

"Although the slots parlors were pursued by the state, in part, as a means of bolstering the horse-racing industry, Penn determined that a slots parlor at its own track on Telegraph Road just nine miles from its new 24-hour casino would compete for the same players."

http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2012/03/16/Agreement-reached-on-moving-Raceway-Park-from-Toledo-to-Dayton.html

"The noncompetition clause included in the Kasich memorandum-of-understanding was critical to Penn National as the racing commission considers license relocations."

"Penn National has said combined revenues from its Toledo casino and a nearby slots-equipped Raceway Park would be $867 million a year and would generate $340 million in state and local gaming taxes. That would jump to $1.3 billion in revenue and $549 million in taxes if the two facilities did not compete with one another."

Long as it has sufficient curling ice, I'd support this.

Now, if I wanted to be a real uncouth bastard, I'd just say they should erect a gun range there, nobody would know the difference from the current environment....

I haven't bothered to pay attention to what sort of state Northtown or Woodville malls are in lately, but if either of them is still standing, why not patch it up and turn it into a giant paintball/lasertag arena? Or charge the urban explorers admission? Graffiti showcase? Zombie movie studio?

Indoor waterpark I thought for Northtown

"Now, if I wanted to be a real uncouth bastard, I'd just say they should erect a gun range there, nobody would know the difference from the current environment...."

Damn it, AC... I want to hate you so bad but then you go and post something like that and I can't help but smile.

Is there not also a Lucas County Recreation Center close to this proposed "Southwyck Rec Center"???

Does it not also have baseball fields and room for more soccer fields, a water park, etc.? In fact, if memory of my childhood is accurate, I believe there was a water park/swimming pool/diving center there, complete 10 & 20 meter diving platforms...closed due to lack of maintenance, insurance costs, and the random drunk driver who plowed his car into one of the pools in the winter (I think in the late 80's).

Seems like a redundant idea to me.

I think it is a sign of progress. Let them look into the needs of the area then formulate a more solid business plan. I have worked with both new businesses and venture capitalists. Very often the structure of a business morphs into a different idea as the needs of the consumer influences it.

a new range opened tuesday just a couple of miles south.
http://shootersofmaumee.com/
looks pretty nice.

Oldhometown...is this what you are referring to"

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19841226&id=Pw0wAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ygIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3256,4997517

There is more information in today's Blade article

The proposed Southwyck legislation says MJW plans to use the loan to pay "predevelopment expenses," such as the market study, preliminary design, and survey and/or legal work.

The money will be loaned at 4 percent for a five-year period, Deputy Mayor Tom Crothers said.

The city would receive copies of the market study and own all rights to it if MJW defaulted on the loan, Mr. Crothers added.

Today's article also includes a photo of a proposed design plan.

It looks like an interesting concept. Something I could potentially imagine using with my family. (If the owners could keep out the kind of behavior that ultimately brought down Southwyck, that is.)

The right kind of facility could draw tournaments, which could bring in people from out of town.

I wouldn't want to see the city build a facility like this. But a private group...perhaps worth considering?

What a dumbass.

It would appear that the woman grew up to be a 50 year old hooker. Surprise, surprise:

Name: Mary Clare Jeziorowski
Location: Monroe, MI
Age: 50 years
Arrest Date: 03-21-2009
Charges: 2925.14c1 Drug Paraphernalia; Illegal Use Or Possession
2913.02 Theft
Fta Failure To Appear - Unknown Offense
335.09e Display Of License Plate; When Expired
4503.21a Failure To Display License Plates
4549.08a1 Use Of Plates; Fictitious
335.09f Display Of License Plate; Not Registered
4513.263b1 Seat Belt Req; Operate Without
2907.24a Soliciting Solicit Another For Sexual Activity For Hire

Yep, that's it! 1984...was off by a few years.

The driver ended up being some sort of politician in Maumee I think...lol

It appears he was the school board president in Maumee for awhile. LOL

^ People had probably long forgotten the 1984 incident by that point.

Can you imagine if someone tried to run for school board with that on their record these days, when information is so much more readily available?

Build a small airport there? ;-)

That whole area is going to be a lot more interesting when the Kroger moves down to Maumee too.

How about we just demolish everything down that way, bring in some topsoil, and turn it into farmland?

Can anyone recall the number of 'studies' that were done on the marina district? they just kept paying for one after another till they could finally pay someone enough to tell them just what they wanted to hear.

What'd it get us? I believe there was even a study or two paid for by us on the steam plant, wasnt there?

And? Where are we with that?

What's Einstein's definition of insanity again???

Can anyone recall the number of 'studies' that were done on the marina district? they just kept paying for one after another till they could finally pay someone enough to tell them just what they wanted to hear.

What'd it get us? I believe there was even a study or two paid for by us on the steam plant, wasnt there?

And? Where are we with that?

What's Einstein's definition of insanity again???

Can anyone recall the number of 'studies' that were done on the marina district? they just kept paying for one after another till they could finally pay someone enough to tell them just what they wanted to hear.

What'd it get us? I believe there was even a study or two paid for by us on the steam plant, wasnt there?

And? Where are we with that?

What's Einstein's definition of insanity again???

I must have missed the yacht club meeting when they sought the input of local boaters.

I really hope that Molson just cut and pasted billy's comment, because otherwise my alt/sockpuppet alarm went off. jr, you want to check on that?

I thought he was just making a joke about the double post of Einstein's definition of insanity (doing the same thing over & over again).

Bingo mom2.

It was quite obvious.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:
http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2012/08/19/Southwyck-rehab-plan-collapses.html

I sure hope that wasn't some buddy of Bell's.

No one at the City did a simple check of public records............unbelievable. Mama alaways said you can't teach stupid

Do they realize how stupid this makes them look?

yeah, I'm sure they do, but they just can't seem to stop doing it.

This has to be a new speed record for a Toledo development project being axed. It's definitely another example of Toledo political buffoonery.

This kind of story is how names get made into verbs.

• "Dude, that project was Belled from the start."
• "We need a scheme to Gaston the pinheads in local government."

It's a nice piece of journalism by the Blade, even if it was a simple public records search, which anyone could do, but nobody else did.

From the Aug 19, 2012 Blade story:

That's Carty-esque. Ignoring details. Laziness. No curiosity. Working on this initiative for a year, and it's gone after one day of a simple records search.

I think this is the reason why the public gets suspicious (so-called negative) when these grandiose plans are presented to us. Congrats to the Blade for their negativity.

I suspect if this guy was a friend of Bell's, it would have been in the article. This just seems like the typical, lazy "work" that has long been done by Toledo's upper management.

OK, the next step is to identify who has kept bringing these people to the city trough.

This guy didn't just drop out of the sky. Gaston isn't unknown. For f@#ks sake, Gaston has been sued "dozens of times" and has already lost city money in a redevelopment.

Yet, he is literally almost handed $50,000 in "study money" and is introduced by the mayor and deputy mayor as some kind of savior. WTF??? Who is pushing this guy to be the "developer" of blighted projects? He has to be a crony of a few people downtown...because no one gets direct access like this without knowing someone.

So who is it?

As a side note in closing, it appears highly doubtful that anyone in this city goverment understands that the overall business climate must change in order to revitalize the city as a whole...not just individual pockets here and there. Stop handing out goodies from the cookie jar to selected, thieving assholes and start making the business climate more friendly to EVERYONE. Because it's not right now...and the Southwyck area is a prime, blighted, blatant example.

This reminds me of the entire Admirals American Grill saga, where individuals with with numerous previous legal, financial, and ethical problems (all public record) were given the keys to run a restaurant in a "prime" property...over another group with a history of sterling management of restaurant properties.

The Blade didn't feel the need to expose that (hmm...another "mystery")...yet it didn't escape serious discussion here on Toledo Talk.

i just read the blade article about the back ground checks and my mind is blown. this looks sooooooooo bad for everyone involved. what a bummer

The Blade article (besides being rather poorly written) is a big black eye for the mayor and Crothers. I really want to know if it was laziness, stupidity, or both. It seems sketchy that they were caught completely off guard on this one.

What part of the story was poorly written?

Laziness, stupidity , or both ?....yes.
I think the story was well written.

"I am fully surprised. We have been dealing with this initiative for about a year and it was brought to me in my office about a year ago as a concept, so all this is basically new to me," Mr. Bell said of Mr. Gaston's financial and legal troubles. "There are enough checks and balances we would have figured it out before we ever loaned them any money."

The shit has now been shuffled. Carry on with your day.

Deputy Mayor Crothers Moved After Southwyck Deal Falls Through

“Deputy Mayor Tom Crothers will move to the Department of Public Utilities to spearhead special projects including the work to study a regional water system, implementation of the SAP computer system upgrade and focusing on customer service,” said a statement from the mayor’s office.

Mr. Crothers, the Deputy Mayor of External Relations, will be replaced by Paul Syring, who is general counsel for the city. Mr. Syring will oversee the departments of inspection and neighborhoods, Mr. Bell said.

Mr. Syring has been general counsel for the city and legal counsel for economic development projects. As acting deputy mayor, Mr. Syring will be paid $85,000 annually, the mayor said.

------

Best comment on the Blade site so far:

This explains why the water department is so horrible...it's the dumping ground for local government screw-ups.

Toledo's leaders once again looking foolish and incompetent.