Shopping center renovation anchors growth in Toledo’s Englewood neighborhood
Posted By: Toledo Blade on May 26, 2026. For more information, please click here to read the source article.
As renovations to a dilapidated shopping center near completion, officials are eagerly anticipating the effects of a key project in the Englewood neighborhood’s revitalization plan.
Swayne Field Shopping Center is a privately owned plaza that sits on 7.4 acres of land at Monroe Street and Detroit Avenue in central Toledo. The site was home to the Toledo Mud Hens and hosted Negro Leagues games until the mid-1950s, when it was redeveloped.
When city officials began looking to revitalize the Englewood neighborhood around 2022, the shopping center became a priority for residents who worried that it was falling into disrepair.
“[Swayne Field] is an example of an old shopping center that was once the anchor of the community, … and as neighborhoods lost population and income, the shopping center gradually declined,” said Rosalyn Clemens, Toledo’s chief of housing and neighborhood sustainability.
Toledo’s housing and community development department raised $2.8 million in federal grants and underwrote a $616,000 federal loan to the property’s owners to fund renovations to the building. The owners contributed $200,000 to the project.
William Lucas, operations manager for the shopping center, said the renovations are aimed at making the plaza feel friendlier. The façade was rebuilt, new lighting was installed, the parking lot was redesigned and resurfaced, and decorative landscaping was added.
“We took down the armed gates and redid all the windows to make it much more appealing and not like you’re walking into captivity anymore,” he said. “It gives more of an impression that it’s friendlier than what it has been before.”
The Arts Commission is also planning a piece of public art for the shopping center — made possible through a grant from the Greater Toledo Community Foundation.
Nathan Mattimoe, a director at the Arts Commission, said he envisions that resulting piece as a landmark and icon for the Englewood neighborhood. The artist, yet to be selected, will develop the piece with input from the public.
“This project is going to be centered around community engagement,” Mr. Mattimoe said. “We want this piece to represent the community and maybe the history or spirit of the community, however the artist wants to translate that.”
Englewood revitalization
Mr. Lucas said his phone has started ringing again as the renovations become substantially complete and visible from Monroe and Detroit. He hopes those calls can transition into new leases.
“We’ve been talking about upgrading [the building] for years, and now that it’s really happening the interest from vendors and from people who have business are really starting to pick up,” Mr. Lucas said.
The city’s lead resource center plans to move into the space and will join several existing tenants, which include Star Beauty, owned by the shopping center’s owners, and Glass City Childcare.
City officials said they hope to attract a grocery store as an anchor tenant. The neighborhood is in a food desert with little access to nutritious fresh food.
The privately owned shopping center was purchased in 1994 by John Kim for $1.4 million and in 1995 was transferred to the family corporation, Swayne Field Shopping Center Inc., which is now owned by Un Young Chin of Temperance.
Ms. Clemens said investing public money in private property can catalyze development in struggling neighborhoods. Economic factors like loss of jobs, housing, and income can strain businesses trying to operate in lower-income areas.
“I say it absolutely makes sense. I always tell people: If the market was working, we wouldn’t need [public investment] because we wouldn’t have a distressed shopping center,” she said. “If you want to turn the tides on disinvestment, you’ve got to invest some money in these communities.”
The Swayne Field property is one of many projects in the area: The Boys and Girls Club purchased and demolished a defunct check-cashing business nearby, the city has redeveloped the former Driggs Dairy site into 20 townhomes, and the Lucas County Land Bank is rehabilitating a blighted industrial property that takes up nine acres.
Mr. Lucas said he is excited for how the renovations at the shopping center will ripple throughout the neighborhood.
“It has the largest footprint in Englewood. [City officials] feel, and we do too, that if we can make a difference here, that it will start spreading into the other areas,” he said. “I grew up in this area, so I take a personal pride in being able to do something that lives beyond me.”
« Back to Insights