A new Outlets Mall is planned for Delaware County and scheduled to open in time for the 2014 holiday season.
The mall will be located at the I-71 and Rts. 36/37 interchange and would be the first significant retail center to open in central Ohio since Polaris Fashion Place opened in October 2001.
Simon, based in Indianapolis, owns the Mall at Tuttle Crossing. The company will join forces with Tanger Factory Outlet Centers of North Carolina to develop the new mall.
More than 90 upscale brands are expected to set up shop at the center. The developers did not yet know which stores would anchor or populate the new mall. However, Tanger recently opened a mall in Texas City, Texas, that includes tenants such as Aldo, Aeropostale, Banana Republic, Brooks Brothers, Coach Factory, Cole Haan, Kenneth Cole, New York & Co., Nike Factory Store, and Tommy Hilfiger.
Delaware officials have high hopes for the project, which is to be slightly smaller than the Tanger Outlet mall in Jeffersonville, 40 miles southwest of Columbus off I-71.
The Tanger mall down in Fayette County is a destination point. People spend all day there, then stay all night. Delaware County Officials envision that happening here with Polaris, Cabela’s and now this new outlet mall.
About 300 construction jobs will be needed initially, and once the outlet center opens, more than 900 retail jobs are expected to be created.
The construction and retail jobs and the eventual sales-tax receipts mean that it’s a triple win for everyone. The first phase of the center will be 350,000 square feet, with an additional 50,000 square feet available for expansion later.
The proximity of the outlet center to the new Cabela’s sporting-goods store scheduled to open in March near the Polaris mall is probably no coincidence. They’re riding the coattails of Cabela’s. Cabela’s should be drawing a lot of tourists to the area.
The new center will bear the Tanger Outlets name. Simon will provide site development and construction supervision while Tanger will manage the joint venture, the companies said in a news release.
Outlet centers have survived by getting away from being true outlets, approximately 90 percent now are selling goods manufactured specifically for the outlets.”
The announcement of the new outlet mall comes during a time when the Ohio Department of Transportation has sought development plans for the area that include ways to fix the traffic snarls at the interchange.
Although officials have no specific plans for fixing the traffic problem, yesterday’s announcement will “get the ball rolling,” said Scott Sanders, director of the Delaware County Regional Planning Commission.
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