ASHTABULA - - When Tops closed it's Ashtabula store in December 2006, some people anticipated another empty albatross would mottle the city's retail landscape.
However, a company is interested in going into the Tops building, City Manager Anthony Cantagallo said at Tuesday's economic development committee meeting.
Cantagallo would not reveal the name of the company because it's still in the negotiation stage.
"They hired a consultant out of Nashville, Tenn., to do a market study," he said. "They're looking at our disposable income."
Tops doesn't own the building on West Prospect, but rather, it leases it from a grocer based in the Netherlands.
"Tops must find a sub-tenant," Cantagallo said.
The store closing put 83 people out of work at Christmas. It also shut down a bank, a gas station, a bakery and a Western Union station.
"We lost a lot," Cantagallo said.
Jason Strong, director of housing and community development, said he recently drove company representatives around town in an attempt to get them to open up shop in Ashtabula.
"They wanted to see the housing," he said.
Cantagallo said, "That's the basis of it all."
He reiterated his commitment to cleaning up the city's blight so when developers come to town, he has something positive to show them besides Walnut Boulevard and Bunker Hill Road.
"You can only show them Walnut Beach so many times," Cantagallo said.
Ward 5 Councilman Chris McClure said the city must settle the tax abatement issue with the Ashtabula Area City School Board because there will be little or no new construction until that time.
The school board's case against the city, filed Oct. 13 in Ashtabula County Common Pleas Court in Jefferson, states the city is not in compliance with Ohio laws regarding the granting of Community Reinvestment Act tax abatements.
The school board wants the city to discontinue granting CRAs and asks the court to make the city pay the school board $1.3 million in damages, according to the complaint.
A judge granted the school board a temporary restraining order, which prohibits the city from reviewing or approving any additional real-estate tax abatements until the issue is settled.
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