ELYRIA, Ohio — After careful consideration, the Lorain County Port Authority has decided to redevelop Elyria’s Midway Mall into a health, wellness and industrial innovation park.
“It was a very difficult decision, but we feel that’s probably the best decision,” said Lorain County Port Authority Director Jim Miller.
News 5 has been reporting on the future of Midway Mall for years.
In January 2023, the port authority agreed to buy and look into redevelopment to bring the property back to life.
Since then, the Board of Directors narrowed its options to two proposals out of the four submissions they received.
RELATED: 2 proposals vie for future of Midway Mall
Now, Miller tells News 5 that the board decided on Wednesday to move forward with Industrial Commercial Properties’ Plan.
“ICP is a known commodity. They’ve redeveloped a lot of malls. They have about $5 billion in assets in malls,” said Miller.
The board had been considering the Center for Food Innovation’s mixed-use year-round agricultural center.
However, Miller says the board believes ICP’s idea will provide better growth for the area after the Cleveland-based company announced they would invest $42 million in the mall to help create hundreds of jobs.
“They’re going to redevelop it for industrial purposes, and they’ll probably bring about 400 jobs to that area so that’s good. Plus, they’re going to do a facelift on the whole building,” said Miller.
One Lorain County resident, whom News 5 spoke to back in February, told us he’s also optimistic about the mall’s future.
“There’s a lot of exciting things happening, and I think as this gets transformed, it will only benefit everyone,” said Chris Hirschler.
Miller says ICP also plans to repay Lorain County residents for the loan taxpayers gave the Port Authority.
“It’s a $17 million transaction, and we paid $13.9 for it,” said Miller.
Following Wednesday’s meeting, both parties’ attorneys will work together to develop a sales and development agreement.
