The Mall at Tuttle Crossing — Site of Proposed 1,600-Home Redevelopment
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…