Northgate Mall (Ohio)

Construction began on the mall in 1970,[2] on the site of a former airport.[3] It opened in 1972, anchored by Sears, McAlpin's and Pogue's.[4] The mall also included a Kroger supermarket.[5] Pogue's became L. S. Ayres in 1983, and was sold to J. C. Penney in 1988.[6] Lazarus was added as a fourth anchor in 1992.[7] It became Macy's in 2005.[8] Dillard's, which acquired the former McAlpin's in 1998, closed in 2009.[9]

J. C. Penney moved to a new store in 2006. A movie theater was scheduled to open on the site of the former building,[10] but this was never added due to the mall's then-owners defaulting on a $74 million loan.[11]

In 2012, the mall was sold to Tabani Group. The same year, DSW opened in part of the former Dillard's, with Marshalls taking another portion.[12] A space briefly occupied by Famous Labels became Burlington Coat Factory.[13] Also filling portions of the former Dillard's in 2013 were Michaels, hhgregg, and Ulta.[14] Ashley Furniture also opened in 2014 (closed in summer 2020), and the former J. C. Penney space finally underwent redevelopment for an Xscape theater.[15]

On August 22, 2018, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 46 stores nationwide. The store closed in November 2018,[16] leaving Burlington, Macy’s and Marshalls as the remaining anchors.

In December 2018, the local township trustees completed a study to investigate the feasibility of creating a mixed-used facility on the mall property, to also include residential development.

On December 26, 2019, an incident where over a hundred teens stormed the mall at night, believed to be a result of a social media post gathering the youths to come to the mall at a certain time, occurred and caused a panic in both shoppers and store employees and resulted in a massive police response and evacuation of the mall. No injuries were reported and several arrests were made. Coincidentally, this incident happened on the fourth anniversary of a similar and much worse incident at Mall St. Matthews in Louisville, Kentucky, where up to 2,000 teens stormed the mall on December 26, 2015.

In January 2020, Macy’s announced that their store at Northgate Mall will be closing in spring 2020. This move was due to the company's having to adapt to the rapidly changing retail climate and overall decreased foot traffic in malls in general. This came with 28 other store closures nationwide. This will leave Burlington and Marshalls as the only anchors left.[17]

Shortly after Macy’s announced its store closure at the mall, township officials stated that they have plans to convert the mall into an outdoor lifestyle center similar to nearby centers in Cincinnati like Rookwood Commons and Pavilion in Norwood or Liberty Center in neighboring Butler County. This project would not start for at least a couple years as funding and official plans and contractors are needed and therefore, no timeframe was revealed on the plan as of now.

• Official website