By Randy Tucker
Enquirer staff writer

A billboard marks one of the entrances to the newly renovated mall. The shopping center is opening at 90 percent occupancy, the highest rate for any U.S. property owned by The Mills Corp. of Arlington, Va. The Enquirer/GLENN HARTONG

Ride attendant Blake Thompson hangs an awning Tuesday at WonderPark as part of last-minute preparations for the fun park's opening in Cincinnati Mills in Forest Park. The Enquirer/MEGGAN BOOKER

FOREST PARK - Cincinnati Mills, the hulking mall struggling to make a comeback after being abandoned by shoppers and tenants not once but twice, is counting on old-fashioned family values to give it new life.

The two-level, 1.5-million-square-foot shopping center formerly known as Forest Fair Mall will officially reopen Thursday after nearly 11/2 years of renovations by The Mills Corp. of Arlington, Va.

The mall operator is known for its amusement-park-like, mega-mall developments that attract millions of tourists each year.

It spent $140 million trying to create the same magic at the shopping center that straddles the border of Forest Park and Fairfield off Interstate 275.

Unlike many Mills locations, Cincinnati Mills does not feature high-thrills entertainment venues such as NASCAR SpeedParks and ESPN X Games Skateparks.

But Mills Corp. executives say the new mall has several features working in its favor:

• Children's play areas PBS Kids Backyard and A Place to Grow.

"We intentionally made this a family-oriented mall because we felt the market dictated that," said Dennis Connolly, vice president and senior development director for Cincinnati Mills.

• Tenants such as the newly remodeled Showcase Cinemas, and restaurants Margarita's and Cornerstone Cafe and Bakehouse.

"People like to go out to eat here," he says. "They like to go to the movies. When you look at the combination of restaurants, movie theaters, family entertainment and the shops that we offer, there isn't a property in the area that can compete against us from that standpoint."

MILLS CORP.

• Self-managed real-estate-investment trust based in Arlington, Va., that owns or operates 28 shopping and entertainment centers in the United States and Europe. • Total sales at Mills properties are more than $6.6 billion annually. • Properties include Arundel Mills in Baltimore; Potomac Mills outside Washington; and Sawgrass Mills in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. • Purchased Cincinnati Mills, formerly Forest Fair Mall, in September 2002 for approximately $70 million and spent another $70 million renovating.

OPENING DAY

Cincinnati Mills will open to the public Thursday with special events and activities, including: 8 a.m. Doors open. The first 3,000 shoppers receive a chance to win up to $1,000 in Cincinnati Mills gift cards. 9:30 a.m. Ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by newly crowned Miss USA Shandi Finnessey and ABC-TV host Chris Harrison. 11 a.m. Book reading by Grammy Award-winning singer Amy Grant at A Place To Grow children's play area on main level near WonderPark arcade. • Complete list of grand opening events

TOP MALLS

Regional indoor mall square footage 1. Cincinnati Mills, 1.50 million square feet 2. Tri-County Mall, 1.32 million square feet 3. Northgate Mall, 1.15 million square feet 4. Kenwood Towne Centre, 1.10 million square feet 5. Florence Mall, 1 million square feet Square footage refers to gross leasable space.

• An emphasis on discount stores, including more than 200 manufacturers' outlets and value retailers, including new-to-the-market Jones New York, Nine West Outlet and Samsonite Company Store as well as the existing Off 5th Saks 5th Avenue.

"I probably would, in some respects, agree that there's not one thing here all by itself that would draw shoppers, Connolly said. "It's the mix. And we believe we have the right mix for the Cincinnati market."

• It is opening with an occupancy rate of more than 90 percent - the highest opening rate for any Mills project in the country.

"That's how you know a mall is going to be successful," Mills CEO Larry Siegel said this week.

"If you go to open and you're only 50 percent leased, you're in trouble. But this means that not only do we believe in the project, the merchants believe in it, too."

A clear focus

Mills says it can succeed where its predecessors twice failed because it has a clear idea of who makes up Cincinnati Mills' target market and what stores and restaurants that group will respond to.

"The previous malls were ill-conceived with department stores that nobody knew in the Cincinnati market, and they were ill-equipped to deal with competition in the marketplace," Siegel said.

Patrice Duker, spokeswoman for the International Council of Shopping Centers, said Mills is known for making its shopping centers unique to the area, which has helped it build brand identity and a large following in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Baltimore; and the Washington area.

"While a mall with a very high-entertainment component, such as an ESPN Skatepark, might attract shoppers in other parts of the country," she said, "focusing on kids might be the best strategy in Cincinnati."

Troubled history

The original Forest Fair fell on hard times almost from the beginning.

It was opened in 1989 by Australia-based development firm L.J. Hooker Corp. But upscale tenants such as B. Altman, Bonwit Teller and Sakowitz & Co. failed to attract much traffic in the then-working-class area.

The center was plagued by cost overruns, and lenders withdrew their support.

Within three months of opening, the center was on the market, and the owners went bankrupt.

The mall remained half empty through much of the early 1990s until it was bought in 1996 by Gator Investments, which sold it to Mills in 2002 for $70 million. Mills has put another $70 million into the renovations.

Mills acquired the mall with several of the anchors it normally recruits already in place, including Off 5th, Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World and Burlington Coat Factory. Other anchors include bigg's supermarket, Kohl's and Babies R Us.

And while Cincinnati Mills may not feature all the bells and whistles that led the mall developer to trademark the phrase "shoppertainment," it has enough of a variety of shops and entertainment that most experts believe it can carve out a niche.

Going in with 90 percent occupancy will help, although several dozen retailers signed on only in the past few months, Connolly said.

"There was some reticence in the beginning because three previous tries had failed," he said. "A number of tenants were somewhat skeptical as to what we intended to do. So they sort of waited to see. And when they actually saw what we were doing, the excitement built, and that's why we saw so many leases signed late in the game."

E-mail rtucker@enquirer.com