A Cafaro Co. subsidiary has purchased the building that houses Dillard's at the Southern Park Mall.

Records show the sale was finalized Wednesday, which is the same day Dillard's announced it was closing its doors at that location inside the Boardman mall.

The Southern Park Mall Dillard's is slated to close in 90 days no later than May 14, according to its corporate headquarters.

Joe Bell, a Cafaro Co. spokesman, said they saw this as an opportunity and the purchase was in negotiations for quite some time.

"We learned quite a while back that Dillard's was interested in closing that particular store location. So, our executives inquired about it and saw this as an opportunity to perhaps redevelop and revitalize that side of the mall," Bell said. "We are looking forward to working with the mall ownership to do this." 

There has been no word yet on exactly what will go in the building. 

"There's nothing set in stone yet. Obviously, as a department store space, it would probably work best as such. But there are lots of other ways to develop that." Bell said. "There are lots of other businesses that would be attractive, useful and profitable in that space, or several businesses could inhabit that space." 

The closure at the Dillard's location will affect 123 employees, but Bell says that "any new development offers the potential for creating new jobs and certainly it's an unfortunate thing that people are going to lose their jobs when Dillard's closes."

Bell says they are hopeful they can create something that creates job opportunities for those people and others in the community.

The company, under the name Boardman SC LLC,  purchased the department store for $8.92 million.

According to records from the Ohio Secretary of State, Boardman SC LLC was formed in August of 2018.