A Stavroff Land and Development affiliate recently purchased the Dublin Village Center.

According to an announcement by Stavroff, Whittingham Capital, LLC, purchased the Dublin Village Center for $4.7-million from DDR Continental L.P. 

Matt Stavroff, of Dublin-based Stavroff Interest, Ltd., confirmed the sale of the 326,000-square-foot shopping center at the southwest corner of the Sawmill and I-270 intersection last week and said redevelopment could be in the future.

"Obviously, we are very early in the process of redevelopment plans, but we would not have bought this property if we hadn't intended to put value into this property," he said.

Dublin Village Center has been identified as one area for redevelopment by the city. Dublin is currently working on the Bridge Street Corridor study. It focuses on development and redevelopment options along state Route 161 from Sawmill Road to the I-270 and U.S Route 33 interchange.

Certain things have to happen before redevelopment can occur, Stavroff said.

"If redevelopment does occur. it will be mixed-use development. In order for that to occur, the economy has to recuperate. Our mantra for this development has to be market-driven. Whatever plan we come up with has to be in response to the marketplace," he said. "This has to be something that the market wants."

If redevelopment does occur, it could host office, retail, multi- and single-family housing. A few changes will need to be made to the property, though.

"This property is not fitting in the state that it is today. It has inherent fundamental problems: it lacks good access and good visibility," Stavroff said. "We need to solve access and visibility issues. That's what we need to be working on over the next year or two. We already have a phenomenal location"

Dublin Village Center was developed in the late 1980s by Continental Real Estate and originally housed AMC Theatres, DSW, Michael's, Discovery Zone and more. In more recently years, Dublin Village Center had hosted fewer businesses.

According to the release, AMC Theatres, Applebee's and Salon Lofts are the primary tenants of the development, which is "currently 70 percent leased, all on a short-term basis."

Stavroff said redevelopment is anticipated to be a three- to seven-year process and in the short term, the company wants to keep Dublin Village Center occupied.

"DDR was an out-of-town owner from Cleveland. It's pretty clear that this asset meant nothing to them. We're a local group. I moved to Dublin when I was 14 years old so Dublin means a lot to me," he said.
"Even if its business as usual, it will be business at a higher level. You're going to see a better offering here. There's no reason that in the interim we can't have good tenants. But it will be short-term."

The next step will be to work with Dublin on redevelopment options on the Bridge Street Corridor study and get better access and visibility, Stavroff said.

"If we get on the same page with Dublin, get access and visibility worked out and the economy improves, I'd say we could submit plans to Dublin in the next year and commence with portions of the development in three years," he said. "I think this is a three- to seven-year redevelopment. But it won't be long before you'll be reading about things going on here. We're not just going to sit on this. We're not going to buy it to maintain the asset as it is today. Something good is going to happen here."