Northeast Ohio Regional Retail Analysis
Executive Summary
Retail Zoning
Graph 4 compares total existing retail area to the potential build-out of all vacant and non-conforming land use areas zoned for retail. Potentially, retail within Cuyahoga County could increase from the existing total of 74.3 million square feet to 125 million square feet. The potential increases for the other counties in the study area are even more pronounced. Other counties with substantial urbanized area, such as Lake and Lorain Counties, face a potential of a 300% to 450% increase. More rural counties, such as Medina, Geauga and Portage, could experience a 860% to 1500% increase. The ultimate potential of an additional 431.3 million square feet of retail in the region is three times the existing amount of retail.
While it is obvious that all of the area zoned for retail will not be developed, the analysis serves to highlight the tremendous excess supply of zoned vacant land over the needs of a generally saturated retail market.
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Without an areawide increase in population, new projects will compete with existing centers
for consumers dollars, thereby weakening the older centers’ viability. Increased vacancies and
weakened sales would lower the value of existing centers and reduce the amount of property,
income and sales tax generated. New retail capacity will also change the character of the
countryside in which it is developed, creating an environment which resembles the urbanized
area which migrating populations have left.
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