Jordan Crossing Center opened in October 1956 as the Swifton Shopping Center. It was the first shopping mall in the Cincinnati area. It was commonly referred to as Swifton Center by area residents. The complex is currently owned by Allen Temple AME Church. The church renovated the center to be an "informational and community service mall of the 21st century". It includes a branch of Wilberforce University, offices for the Cincinnati-Hamilton County Community Action Agency, and thirty other retail tenants. There is also a 23,630-square-foot (2,195 m2) sanctuary, the Allen Temple AME Church, which was built on a 4.5-acre (18,000 m2) section, at the northwest corner of the mall's parking lot. The nine million dollar structure was dedicated in May 2004.
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History
Planning for Cincinnati's first shopping mall was underway in 1950, with a prospectus being completed in April, 1951. In this proposal, a regional shopping center was to be built on a thirty-four acre site in the Bond Hill district, at, what was then, the geographic center of Cincinnati and its suburbs. There was a five-story medical building incorporated into the proposed structure, and another eleven-story office tower to the south, connected to the main shopping center by elevated walkway. In keeping with the times, a 10,000 person capacity bomb shelter was to be included on the lower level of the open-air complex.
The first mall in Cincinnati
The Swifton Shopping Center that eventually opened in October 1956 had most of these components, but the medical and office buildings had been eliminated from the final plan. Upon its grand opening, Swifton was one of the largest shopping centers in the state of Ohio. There was 486,000 leasable square feet and sixty-six retailers, including a three-level department store at the southern end. This was occupied by Cincinnati-based Rollman's and then Mabley & Carew. There were also two five and ten stores, two supermarkets and a 3,000 car capacity parking area.
Competition
By the time of Swifton Center's tenth anniversary in 1966, there were three other shopping malls in Metro-Cincinnati (Tri-County Center, Western Woods Mall and Kenwood Mall). These had been built farther out from the central city and drew a great deal of commerce away from the older center. By the early 1980s, Swifton had become obsolete....a dead mall. At one time, there were only ten tenants in business in the center, which had space for more than sixty.
After sitting nearly vacant for several years, a twelve million dollar renovation was undertaken by the Youngstown-based Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation and New Orleans-based Jerome Glazer. A newly remodeled -and renamed- Swifton Commons Mall opened in August 1985. An enclosed food court had been installed and stores such as Waldenbooks, Kinney Shoes and Lane Bryant had joined the retail roster. The Dayton-based Elder-Beerman department store chain leased the old Mabley and Carew location in 1978.
New Owners, New Center
This effort to revitalize the open-air shopping center was a complete failure. By the early 1990s, the property was in foreclosure. It was sold in 1996, again in 1997, and -for a third time- in 2001. The final purchase was made by the Allen Temple AME Church.