By: G. Patrick Kelley
Repository Business Editor

Canton – Nassimi Realty Plans to show off the details of its plans for Canton Centre Mall on May 2.

Jeremy Fergusson, marketing manager for Nassimi, said the mall will get a face-lift, and an outbuilding will be added.

“They’re going to redo the façade of the existing building,” Fergusson said. There also is discussion of creating more entrance from the outside.

“It is something Nassimi has done with other malls. It’s called ‘demalling,’” he said.

It’s also called an “open-air”, lifestyle center” which is a trend among retail center owners, according to Robert Cooper, vice president at the Akron office of commercial realty giant CB Richard Ellis Group.

He said open-air shopping centers “create a lot of eating areas, talking areas and event area.”

He said Nassimi’s plans for Canton Centre are solid.

Nassimi bought the mall in 2004 from Bankers Trust Co. Bankers Trust - a subsidiary of Germany-based Deutsche Bank – paid $14 million for the mall at a Stark County sheriff’s auction in September 2001. Bankers held a $20.2 million mortgage on the mall and foreclosed when Canton Centre Mall Limited Partnership missed payments.

The mall has suffered from low occupation and light traffic in recent years.

The company said in 2004 it needed to figure out what kinds of stores would go with Wal-Mart, which has a super-center right next to the shopping center.

“They’re reworking the mix of stores in the center,” Fergusson said. “They’re trying to get the proper mix.”

Fergusson said the company has about 20 shopping centers in the Eastern U.S. and specializes in revitalizing older properties.

A building will be constructed in the center’s parking lot near Tuscarawas Street W and Whipple Avenue for several smaller tenants, but the company is still negotiating with the potential occupants.

Nassimi Realty is a privately held investment and development company owned by the Nassimi family.

It started in Europe in the early 1950s and opened its New York office in the mid-1970s.

Reach Repository Business Editor Pat Kelley
At (330) 580-8323 or email: pat.kelley@cantonrep.com