BY PERRY BROTHERS
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The on-again, off-again deal to bring TJ Maxx to downtown Cincinnati appears to be on again, but the company's parent, TJX Cos. Inc., won't confirm it.
Mark Fallon, the Jeffrey R. Anderson broker who has been trying for two years to bring the snazzy apparel discounter to the former Gidding-Jenny space on Fourth Street, has a signed lease agreement between the property owners and the retail chain.
"Once we were able to get the deal to make financial sense for both us and them, we were able to move ahead," Mr. Fallon said Friday. He said the store is slated to open in the spring, after $3 million in renovations to the three-level, 37,000-square-foot space.
Two floors will be used for retail, and a basement level will house the store's offices and layaway merchandise. The 10-year lease has an estimated value of more than $5 million.
Mr. Fallon said the lease has three, five-year renewal options. "Nothing is official yet," Renee Katziff, a TJX spokeswoman, said repeatedly in response to questions about the deal.
But other downtown officials confirmed that the deal is final, including David Ginsburg, senior vice president of retail for Downtown Cincinnati Inc. (DCI).
"At long last," Mr. Ginsburg said. "It has been one of the most difficult and complex deals that I've been involved with in my four years at DCI."
The troubles started when TJX officials last year toured the property and realized how much renovation would be required, Mr. Fallon said.
"Each time they'd get in there and look at it, the costs would go higher and higher," he said. One of the largest costs will be to build escalators between levels.
TJX wanted a downtown Cincinnati location, Mr. Ginsburg said. The property ownership added another level of complexity. Randy Sandler owns about two-thirds of the Fourth Street space; Norman Wasserman owns the other third; Belvedere Corp. owns the two entrances from the site to Carew Tower; and Tower Place owner, Faison & Associates Inc., owns the loading dock area.
Finally, after a year of negotiations, all of the participating companies agreed to lower the rental rates to meet TJX's cost requirements. The Cincinnati Equity Fund also agreed to help finance the project. The Equity Fund's involvement must clear a final approval process, Mr. Fallon said.
Mr. Fallon and Mr. Ginsburg touted the successful cooperation that brought the deal to its apparent close.
"It was a good example of everybody downtown coming together to do what's best for Fourth Street," Mr. Fallon said.
That cooperation helps produce what's best for downtown, Mr. Ginsburg said -- variety.
"Downtown should be everybody's neighborhood," he said. "You have the Saks and Tiffany's, but you also have stores where you can get good values, like TJ Maxx and the new CVS drugstore (at Sixth and Race). For the downtown worker and residents, having these amenities will help us to attract more workers and residents downtown."
