Fairview Centre has been serving the community for 85 years. The once-linear retail strip along and near Lorain Road was significantly reconstructed in the mid-1990s with a new grocery store and other retail spaces set back behind a large parking lot (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Six large retail centers change hands in 2025
For the sixth time this year, another large, multitenant retail center in Greater Cleveland has sold. JLL Capital Markets announced today that it arranged the $13.8 million sale of Fairview Centre, a 147,602-square-foot, grocery-anchored shopping center in Fairview Park.
Fairview Centre, 21593 Lorain Rd., consists of three buildings that are 89.9 percent occupied by anchor tenant Giant Eagle, which has had a 30-year tenure — and counting — at the property. This Giant Eagle location attracts 640,000 annual visits per year; 170,000 more than the nearest grocer, according to JLL.
Additional tenants include Dollar Tree, Onyx Gyms, Goldfish Swim School, UPS and the American Cancer Society, among others. The retail center dates from 1940 but was significantly reconstructed in the mid-1990s.
The buyer is Axiom Realty, a 25-year-old company based in the Philadelphia suburb of Ardmore, PA, that makes strategic investments in grocery-anchored shopping centers in underserved markets, according to its Web site.
JLL marketed the property on behalf of the seller, Lamar Companies, a 53-year-old privately held, real estate investment company headquartered in Madison, NJ, a suburb in the New York City metro area.
Part of the original 1940-built section of Fairview Centre is seen at the right, comprising the west end of the retail strip. It was also updated in 1996 when the retail complex was rebuilt (Google).
Positioned on 12.8 acres at 21593 Lorain Rd., Fairview Centre is less than 10 miles from Downtown Cleveland. The property draws from a population of more than 219,000 residents within a five-mile radius and is conveniently located along busy Lorain (State Route 10) and close to Fairview High School and Middle School campuses.
“Fairview Centre presented a unique opportunity to acquire a grocery anchored shopping center anchored by the market leading grocer at a significant discount to replacement cost and value-add opportunity through lease-up of vacant suites in the center,” said Brian Page in a written statement. Page is director of JLL Capital Markets Investment Sale and Advisory team.
Page was joined by JLL Capital Markets Senior Director Michael Nieder in representing the seller. This was the sixth sale of a large retail center in Greater Cleveland so far this year and the second one in Fairview Park.
“The Cleveland retail market is set for continued prosperity with leasing volume up 15 percent year-over-year as of first quarter 2025 and 2025 retail transaction volumes anticipated to surpass their 2021 peak by year end,” Page added.
A busy year of retail property sales started off big with Pinecrest, a 640,000-square-foot mixed-use, retail-based center in Orange Village being acquired in February by Greensboro, NC-based Tanger for $167 million.
Dark clouds were looming over retail centers like Westgate Shopping Center in Fairview Park when this streetview was taken during the pandemic in 2021. But those that survived COVID proved their strength and are now hot investments (Google).
In June, the first of two Fairview Park retail center sold when the 311,440-square-foot Westgate Shopping Center on Center Ridge Road sold for $51.5 million to Phillips Edison & Co. of Cincinnati, according to JLL.
A month later, Matthews Real Estate Investment Services completed the $31,555,000 sale of the Pavilion Shopping Center on Chagrin Boulevard in Beachwood. The 207,000-square-foot retail center was 100-percent leased at the time of the transaction.
Ridge Park Square at Ridge Road and Interstate 480 in suburban Brooklyn sold in August, fetching $29.4 million, according to Cuyahoga County property records. It was the first time the 36-year-old, 386,754-square-foot retail center had sold.
Also last month, Pearl Plaza, a brand-new retail center at 6850 Pearl Rd. in Middleburg Heights sold for $9.55 million, according to county property records. The transaction was noted by the city in an ordinance approved in June that transferred a tax-increment financing agreement to the new owner CL Pearl Plaza OH LLC.
“Retail is hot again,” said Terry Coyne, vice chairman in the Cleveland office of global real estate services company Newmark. “The strongest retail centers proved their strength by surviving COVID. And now they are thriving. This is a national trend.”
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