Developer to Convert Former Grocery Store to Bearcat Self-Storage Facility in Delhi Township, OH

Cincinnati-based real estate development firm Dov Limited intends to convert the former Thriftway grocery store in the DelFair Shopping Center in Delhi Township, Ohio, to self-storage. The company acquired the 10-acre retail center last fall for $1.19 million. The grocery store has been vacant for more than 10 years. The self-storage facility will be called Bearcat Storage and is expected to open in mid-June, according to the source.

Two vacant storefronts adjacent to the self-storage space will be reserved for future expansion. “From the outside it will look like a retail center, with the storage units located inside,” Douglas Messer, a company principal, told the source. “It will take a big block of vacancy off the market, which only helps other businesses in the area.”

The developer has had success with other self-storage facilities it owns, Messer said. After conducting a market study, the group determined there was additional storage demand in the Delhi area, the source reported.

In addition to the grocery-store conversion, Dov is also making improvements to the retail center. Plans include new fencing at the rear of the property as well as new paint, roofing and stonework accents at the front of the center. Plans also call for new landscaping, parking-lot repaving and replacement signage.

“We want to give life back to the property,” Messer told the source. The roof replacement is underway, while the parking lot should be complete by June, he said.

The property at the corner of Delhi Pike and Anderson Ferry Road was identified as a “catalytic site” for redevelopment in the town’s Delhi Pike revitalization plan. “We’re very happy with the improvements they are planning for the site and hope it helps them accommodate good tenants,” Cheryl Sieve, president of the township board of trustees, told the source.

“As soon as we renovate the property, we’ll make a big push to lease the other vacant spaces,” Messer said.

Dove Limited is a full-service real estate company specializing in development, investing and management of industrial, office, residential and retail properties, according to its website.

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