The starting bid for the damaged 275,000-square-foot retail strip was $800,000.
Mike Zhang, an investor with National Eagle, said the company plans to rehabilitate the weathered property with the hope of attracting new business to the city.
“We plan to maintain the original structure without doing any major changes,” Zhang said. “We will complete necessary maintenance and renovation. Trotwood is a good place to be, and we hope to attract more businesses to the city.”
Zhang has been working with Trotwood city officials ahead of the project.
“Mr. Zhang has shared with us that he plans to rehabilitate the Consumer Square shopping center (by) repairing the exteriors and upfitting the interiors for various retail and restaurant uses,” said Trotwood City Planner Max Fuller.
According to Fuller, the project will be completed in multiple phases.
“Phase one will be the repair and occupancy of vacant spaces in the smaller structure closest to Salem Avenue,” he said. “Following phases of the project will focus on the two larger structures spanning the rear of the property.”
Constructed in the late 1980s, Consumer Square once housed retail tenants like Cub Foods, UPS, Radio Shack, AJ Wright, Rent-A-Center and McSports. Now it sits vacant, like most of the former Salem Mall property a few hundred yards to the southeast, with a large U-Haul center, some restaurants and small businesses, and a Home Depot store offering more activity in between the two vacant sites.
The larger Consumer Square buildings set back from the road present a nearly quarter-mile long facade of empty, damaged and boarded storefronts. Only the ghostly outline of past signs for Office Depot, Shoe Carnival and others overlook a massive weedy parking lot.
The outlots along the road by Salem include active businesses like Honey Baked Ham, Sherwin Williams, Check Smart, and Pro Nails & Spa.
The Consumer Square renovation project is in the early stages, Zhang explained, noting that permits and detailed plans still need to be hashed out. He said a solid timeline for the project was not immediately available last week.
“We’re in ongoing discussions with the city about the direction we’re going, and city leaders have been very supportive,” he said. “The work won’t happen overnight, but it’s a team effort that we hope will lead to a (rebound) of the site.”
The property had most recently been owned by Moonbeam Capital, a Las Vegas-based leasing and management company.
In 2015, city leaders were told by Moonbeam that the company had plans to renovate the center and upgrade the facade, however, it’s unclear if any such work was completed.
“(Renovation) did not occur in a significant way,” Trotwood Community Improvement Corporation Director Chad Downing said in November, prior to the site’s auction. “The last large tenant in the primary set of buildings, Office Depot, closed its doors in 2020. Shortly thereafter, as a result of the poor conditions, Chase Bank left their location. Since then, the tenants have continued to dwindle.”
Salem Consumer Square OH LLC/Moonbeam was part of a now-settled court case in 2020 when Belfor USA Group Inc. filed a complaint against Moonbeam seeking damages and assertion of a mechanic’s lien in an amount not less than $2.8 million for restoration services completed by Belfor following the 2019 Memorial Day tornadoes.
Salem Consumer Square OH LLC/Moonbeam alleges in the filings that Belfor’s claim of damages against the company is inflated, alleging Belfor performed unnecessary and/or unauthorized work, and further claiming Belfor “intentionally or negligently” caused destruction of certain portions of the property.
Moonbeam filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy relief in 2021, and in 2023 a judge approved a settlement agreement between the two parties, which included the stipulation that Moonbeam pay Belfor a sum of $3.9 million in exchange for dismissal of any additional claims and pending proceedings between them, including release of the mechanic’s lien, among other terms.
Renovation efforts also continue at the former Salem Mall site, where the Sears building was approved for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, and $2 million in Congressional Project Funding was approved toward creation of a multi-use business center focused on a food market, entrepreneurship services and workforce development.
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