TOLEDO, Ohio — It's been over a decade since the Woodville Mall in Northwood, Ohio, shut down permanently. But, new life is coming to the old commercial space.
The Enclave project is a 100-acre, $7 million development that will feature residential and commercial properties.
The project began in 2015 and ground broke in the spring of 2021. Since then, the project has faced delays in the form of supply and labor shortages, in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But, the city of Northwood's administrator Bob Anderson said progress is still being made.
"It's taking longer than we had hoped, but we're moving forward," he said.
Developer Glenn Grisdale said the project has continued in some aspects while stopping in others.
"We started executing a plan," Grisdale said. "Of course, it was in the middle of COVID. And with the supply chain issues and the labor issues, we were still able to forge ahead with certain aspects of the site."
But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Grisdale hopes to see the community center and some of the townhomes standing by 2024.
"Developments off to the distance here will probably be built in their fourth phase by the end of 2024," Grisdale said. "Then everything else will probably melt into it based on all the investment that the public is putting into the private property."
Nextdoor to the development is the Biltmore Gardens neighborhood. Resident Chuck Wood has lived in the area for almost 50 years and remembers the old Woodville Mall and Great Eastern Shopping Plaza in its heyday, as well as its decline.
"It deteriorated so far," he said. "It was a great place when I was just a kid."
Wood said he's glad the property is being developed and hopes it brings more people to the relatively quiet side of town.
"It's about time for something," he said. "We need something on the east side. We have no stores or anything here. I hope they're going to bring some good stores that are going to be competitive with the stores on the other side of town."
Developers said the new community center and splash pad will be done first, then crews will wrap up work on the townhomes.
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