By Justin Fenton
Enquirer staff writer

Marty Workman, a fabricator for Scenic View Inc., secures a picket fence surrounding a play area for children at Cincinnati Mills mall. The former Forest Fair Mall will reopen in August. The Enquirer/ MEGGAN BOOKER

FAIRFIELD - The Mills Corp. announced 14 new tenants Thursday for its 1.5-million-square-foot Cincinnati Mills redevelopment of the former Forest Fair Mall site.

Seven of Cincinnati Mills' new stores will be making their first appearance in the Cincinnati market. They are Bon Worth, which specializes in misses and petite sizes; Big Dog Sportswear, activewear and accessories; Deb Shops, a junior apparel retailer; Jones New York, an apparel, footwear and accessories designer; Kasper, an apparel and accessory company; luggage retailer Samsonite; and Corning Revere, a cookware, bakeware and dinnerware retailer.

Also added to the mall's new slate are Aeropostale, Nine West, Welcome Home, Bath & Body Works, Rave, Finish Line and Zales jewelers, joining Guess, Forever 21 and Charlotte Russe, which were announced earlier in the year.

The mall has space for 200 stores. Dennis Connolly, the development director of Cincinnati Mills, said the mall will aim to attract consumers from 40 to 50 miles away.

"There were very, very few specialty shops here (before it was purchased by Mills), and we had almost 400,000 square feet of small-retail space," said Connolly, who worked on similar projects in Hanover, Md., and Atlanta. "That's what's going to draw people here."

The cavernous two-story mall was purchased by the Alexandria, Va.-based Mills Corp. two years ago for $70 million, and the company has spent another $70 million on renovations. The mall will reopen Aug. 19.

Connolly projected 70 percent to 85 percent of the mall's space would be leased by then.

Many of the mall's "anchor" stores are holdovers from Forest Fair and have remained open.

Connolly said most of the old mall's stores were asked to leave, but Mills decided to keep most of the anchors and some other retailers, including a Bigg's grocery store, because they were "for the most part doing well," he said.

Forest Fair opened in March 1989 and within two years saw occupancy drop to as low as 56 percent, though it was about three-quarters leased by 2002. As of Thursday, much of the interior design work had been completed, with the mall broken into different "neighborhoods." Among them: an Ohio River-themed 1,200-seat food court featuring inflatable fish; a farmland wing with American flags and cows; and a courtyard with a fountain in the center. Two children's play areas - PBS Kids Backyard and A Place to Grow - have been created as well.

More than 1,000 construction workers are scurrying to finish the project as the opening date approaches.

The design and finish work is being completing by Cincinnati-based FRCH Design Worldwide.

The mall will hold a two-day mall job fair starting today, and will conduct on-site interviews for more than 3,000 full-time and part-time jobs in retail sales, customer service, food service and retail management positions. For more information, contact the Career Fair hotline at (513) 671-2929.

E-mail jfenton@enquirer.com