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BOYLE OPENS OHIO HOME FURNISHINGS CENTER

BY DONNA MITCHELL

Homebodies and nesters, rejoice. The Boyle Group has turned a former outlet center in Ohio into what it says is the first U.S. shopping center devoted exclusively to home furnishings.

HomeWorks, which began life as The Jeffersonville (Ohio) Outlet Center, provides a place where amateur and professional decorators alike can buy furnishings, upholstery, glassware, designer fabrics and more — all in one spot.

“Our ambition is that HomeWorks become the largest themed center for fashions and services for the home in the nation,” said Greg Boyle, president of the Berwyn, Pa.-based Boyle Group. This is something of a departure for the family-owned company, which specializes in the development of outlet centers. It has a portfolio of five centers in New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

McLean, Va.-based McArthur/Glen Group built Jeffersonville Outlet Center in 1992 and later sold it to Baltimore-based Prime Retail, which owned another outlet center just three miles away. Together, Prime’s properties came to be known as Jeffersonville I and Jeffersonville II. Eventually, Warren, Ohio-based Landmark Property acquired II. (Prime retained Jeffersonville I, renaming it Prime Outlets Jeffersonville.)

Landmark hired Boyle Group in the spring of last year to re-tenant Jeffersonville II, which sorely needed the help: The 315,000-square-foot center was only 13 percent leased. Boyle Group spent $450,000 sprucing up the place and then bought it last October. At press time, the newly renamed HomeWorks was more than 50 percent leased.

Among HomeWorks’ national retailers are Secaucus, N.J.-based glassware specialist Mikasa and Atlanta-based mattress seller Simmons. The regional names include Berlin, Ohio-based Amish Heirloom Furniture and Cincinnati-based fabrics and accessories seller Textile Studio.

Boyle says he counts on the appeal of one-stop home shopping to lure spenders from Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton and Springfield, all of which are less than 40 miles away. Plenty of demand exists, both nationally and within driving distance of Jeffersonville, to support an exclusively home-themed shopping center, he adds.

“The drivers in the economy are [home-related],” says Boyle, pointing to the low mortgage rates that have freed up disposable income, which homeowners then reinvest in their houses. Further, since the terror attacks of three years ago, more Americans are choosing to spend on their homes rather than travel.

Boyle says HomeWorks will benefit from the traffic over at Prime Outlets Jeffersonville.

“We concluded that Prime was our biggest ally,” he said. “They are pulling in 50,000 people a week to shop in Polo Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Brooks Brothers, Nautica and 100 other national outlet retailers. We’re after that same customer, just a different buying experience.”