SHEFFIELD LAKE — Make way for the wrecking ball — some major changes are coming to Sheffield Lake.The city will officially take control of the defunct Shoreway Shopping Center in November, after signing a $2.8 million deal Friday to purchase the property from majority owner the Levin Family Trust.

The deal comes just one day after minority owners, the James Ratner family, offered to “gift” its own $700,000 stake to the city, according to Mayor John Piskura.

“This was the most difficult deal I’ve ever been involved with,” Piskura said. “…I think this could completely change our city. This is what we’ve been after all along and now we can hit the ground running with redevelopment."

The city’s urgency to acquire the shopping center has been no secret.

In 2006, it offered to purchase the increasingly decrepit center for $4.8 million — the highest it could afford — but Levin countered with a $6.5 million asking price, and the deal fell through.

The city followed up with threats to take the shopping center by eminent domain, but those threats eventually dried up after similar efforts in other cities failed.

With only six of the center’s 21 storefronts currently occupied, the recent call for change came after the July announcement that Giant Eagle, the center’s anchor tenant and the city’s largest employer at 60 employees, would vacate the property Nov. 1.

Hundreds of residents rallied, and now with the city back at the helm, Piskura said Giant Eagle may be willing to reconsider.

“Representatives at Giant Eagle corporate offices had indicated in the past that they would be willing to have further discussions about the scheduled closing, should the city acquire the property,” he said in an e-mail to residents late Friday. “In that vein, I have contacted Giant Eagle in an attempt to reopen discussions.”

Piskura said the city will borrow the money for the purchase and then underwrite it with its capital improvements account, a funding option similar to how the city funded its portion of its new boat launch.

The strategy keeps the city’s general fund intact, Piskura said, and has zero effect on the funding of city operations, such as the police and fire departments.

Although the offer and acceptance has already been signed, the finer details of the purchase will be worked out in a formal purchase agreement by Oct. 1, with the ensuing property transfer Nov. 15.

A special City Council meeting Tuesday will highlight further details of the purchase, Piskura said.

Once the city has possession of the 20-acre property, Piskura said he intends on tearing down the nuisance buildings and southern portions of the strip. Current tenants will be kept but may be relocated.

The city will gauge what the community would like to see done with the property through town meetings.

RMS Management, the current management company, has agreed to stay on to help the city manage the center during the transition.

Piskura said the center might just become the new heart of the city.

“Now that we have the property, I want to build what the community wants," Piskura said. “My personal vote is to turn it into a new town center for the city.”

Contact Stephen Szucs at 329-7129 or sszucs@chroniclet.com.

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