Swifton Center

Swifton Center
A black-and-white photo of a two-level department store. Visible on the store is signage reading "Rollman's"
Rollman & Sons department store at Swifton Center, c. 1960
Map
LocationCincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Address7030 Reading Road
Opening dateOctober 24, 1956; 68 years ago (1956-10-24)
Closing dateMarch 28, 2013; 11 years ago (2013-03-28)
Previous names
  • Swifton Commons
  • Jordan Crossing
DeveloperGeneral Development
OwnerCity of Cincinnati
No. of stores and services60
No. of anchor tenants1
Total retail floor area547,626 square feet (50,876.1 m2)[1]
No. of floors1

Swifton Center was a shopping mall in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Opened in 1956 as the first mall in the Cincinnati area, it was initially an open-air complex featuring Rollman & Sons department store as the sole anchor store. This store was converted to Mabley & Carew in 1960, and again to Elder-Beerman in 1978. Other major tenants included Kroger, Liberal Market, G. C. Murphy, and S. S. Kresge. The mall had undergone a severe decline in tenancy by the early 1980s, resulting from the relocation of Kroger and deferred maintenance of the property.

In 1985, Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation purchased the mall and renovated it as Swifton Commons. As part of this renovation, the mall gained a number of outlet stores. Despite initial success, the renovated mall underwent another severe decline in tenancy by the mid-1990s due to the bankruptcy of key tenants such as Elder-Beerman. Allen Temple AME Church bought the mall and renamed it to Jordan Crossing, with the intent of replacing many of the inline tenants with offices. This was unsuccessful, and by 2013, the mall was demolished except for offices in the former location of Elder-Beerman.

  1. ^ Directory of major malls. MJJTM Publications Corp. 1990. p. 475.