The mall, built in phases between and as Forest Fair Mall, has become noted for its troubled history; despite being the second-biggest mall in the state and bringing many new retailers to the market, it lost three anchor stores B. The mall underwent renovations throughout the mid s, attracting new stores such as Kohl's , Burlington Coat Factory , and Bass Pro Shops.
Mills Corporation renamed the property to Cincinnati Mills in and renovated the mall once more in August Following the sale of Mills's portfolio to Simon Property Group , the mall was sold several times afterward, while continuing to lose many of its key tenants. After having been renamed to Cincinnati Mall and again to Forest Fair Village in the s, the property received significant media attention as an example of a dead mall.
It also received a number of proposals for renovation, none of which were realized. Following years of tenancy decline, it closed to the public on December 2, with the exception of Kohl's and Bass Pro Shops. Bass Pro Shops closed on January 13, Initially, the site at the northeast corner of the Interstate beltway's interchange with Winton Road was to consist solely of Bigg's , a local hypermarket chain.
Overall, Forest Fair Mall would be the second-biggest mall in the state of Ohio at the time of construction, behind only the now-defunct Randall Park Mall in North Randall , a suburb of Cleveland.
Altman and Company , Parisian , and Sakowitz. Altman was confirmed as a tenant in November and Parisian in March , [ 7 ] [ 8 ] while negotiations with Sakowitz began in October The first phase of the mall, featuring Bigg's and approximately 20 other stores, opened on July 11, A month prior to this, Higbee's withdrew from the project after being purchased by a joint venture of Dillard's and Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. Altman was relocated from its originally planned store to the space vacated by Higbee's, thus leaving a vacant anchor store and causing delays in opening the rest of the mall.
