The Mall at Tuttle Crossing has lost two-thirds of its tenants since its 1997 opening, and now a Columbus resident wants the city to turn the struggling property into a neighborhood of up to 1,600 homes before it meets the same fate as other dying American malls. Ben Jay says he has sent a concept plan to the city outlining a mixed-use overhaul of the site, arguing that doing nothing risks losing the 82-acre property for good.
A Mall in Steep Decline
Jay laid out his case in a piece called Stars Over Tuttle, recalling that the mall opened on July 11, 1997, with 128 stores and four anchor tenants. Nearly three decades later, the picture looks very different: Columbus Business First reports the mall once housed more than 100 retailers and restaurants but has dwindled to three dozen tenants today. A separate Columbus Business First report from a year earlier found occupancy had already dropped to nearly 50%.
Jay's account ties that decline to a string of setbacks. He writes that the mall's air conditioning failed in the summer of 2024, the same year H&M, described as the largest tenant on the second floor, left the property. Claire's closed its store in 2025, and JCPenney put its building up for sale that same year, according to Jay's post.
Ownership and a Disputed Timeline
The mall's path into its current ownership is murky, with conflicting accounts of when it landed in receivership. Jay's page says the mall fell into receivership in 2020, while Columbus Jewish News reports Simon defaulted on its loan in May 2020 and that the property had been in receivership since 2021. The two sources also diverge on the 2023 sale: Jay says three New York investment firms bought the property that year; Columbus Jewish News identifies the buyers as Namco Realty LLC, CH Capital Group LLC and Mason Asset Management Inc. and reports the purchase price was undisclosed.
The outlets likewise differ on the mall's size. Jay describes the enclosed mall as about 1.1 million square feet, while Columbus Jewish News describes it as a 1.2 million-square-foot mall, of which only 743,000 square feet — the central mall building and the vacant former Sears anchor space — were included in the 2023 sale. That same report notes that Macy's, JCPenney and Scene75 are separately owned, even though they sit physically within the mall complex.
What Jay Is Proposing
Jay says he has sent his concept plan to the City of Columbus Department of Development, calling for Tuttle Crossing to be named a priority redevelopment site and for every owner to be brought to one table within 90 days. His plan envisions 1,000 to 1,600 homes alongside a school, childcare, a sports park, a grocery store, a pharmacy and a neighborhood Main Street. A 10TV video on the proposal describes it as reviving the area with new apartments and an entertainment center, among other features, according to 10TV.
Affordability is built into the pitch: at least 20% of the homes would stay affordable to households earning 60% to 80% of area median income, with another 10% reserved for a public-service workforce tier, Jay's plan states. He frames the numbers against a regional housing crunch, citing Central Ohio economist Bill LaFayette's estimate that the region needs 18,000 to 20,000 new housing units a year. Jay's post also notes that Columbus told federal housing officials the shortage could reach as many as 110,000 units by 2032.
How Other Malls Have Handled Decline
Jay points to national trends as backdrop for his pitch, citing estimates that 700 to 1,200 enclosed malls remain in the United States today, depending on how they're counted, and that at least 192 malls had plans to add housing as of 2022. He cites Fox Valley Mall in Aurora, Illinois, where part of the property became 304 apartments, as one example of what redevelopment can look like.
A more active case is playing out in Overland Park, Kansas, where CBL Properties has filed plans to rezone roughly 89 acres of the Oak Park Mall property, according to KMBC. That proposal includes a four-story apartment building with 260 units, a four-story hotel with 120 rooms, two restaurants, a park, a butterfly garden, new sidewalks and a roundabout. KMBC reports there is no specific timeline yet for when construction there could begin.
Jay's writing also points to a starker outcome closer to home: Columbus's own Eastland Mall, which a court declared a public nuisance and closed for good in December 2022, with demolition continuing through 2025 under a court-ordered schedule. It's the kind of ending Jay says he hopes to avoid at Tuttle Crossing by pushing the city to act now rather than after the property empties out further.
