Who is James Mallory and why is he buying up property along Navada Street and that portion of Riverside that runs parallel to Navada? That is a mystery that has intrigued us for eight years now. An article by MJ reporter Erin Colella in last Sunday's paper reminded me of that question. Colella's article dealt with a stripped down mobile home that neighbors have had to put up with for some time now. She did get into some background about Mallory and I thought I would do some digging myself. What little I found is much the same that Erin reported.
Since the year 2000 James Mallory Ltd. has bought up 17 properties in that neighborhood. Some were purchased for as little as $11,500 and up to $40,000 for five others. As Erin reported the county auditor shows a post office box address in Beaver Falls and State Street address in Columbus. Erin also reported that Bryer Realty represents them locally. They are the go to people for maintaining the properties. The last purchase was made in 2005.
Other than a city, a post office box is about as anonymous as you can get. A Goolge search on the Columbus address shows it to be the home of a law firm among other things. Checking out that law firm's web site leads me to believe that they are mostly legal representatives for commercial interests.
Checking out the Secretary of State web site shows that James Mallory Ltd. was incorporated in 2000 and names an attorney at that Columbus law firm as an agent for Mallory. They were incorporated as a domestic limited liability corporation for perpetuity. All contact information is for that law firm.
Checking out James Mallory, Beaver Falls, only told me that a James Mallory was a president of the Ohio River Chapter of the Lewis & Clark Heritage Foundation. Some of the Beaver Falls search results makes mention of Mallorys that date back to Revolution War times. As for James himself there was no connection to any type of business.
Colella reported that she was in touch with a spokesman for the company, maybe the agent at the Columbus law firm. He said Mallory is an investor and that's it. The spokesman didn't want to be named stating he was only the middleman. He was, however, familiar with city standards and the right of ownership of that trailer. Other than that Mr. Mallory wants everything else to be kept confidential.
So the mystery remains. There aren't many that know Mr. Mallory and those that do have been sworn to secrecy. I can only speculate about the reasons. Something in my digging lead me to think about oil and gas under that land but that seems kind of far fetched. It's close to the river. Is there a possibility that another river transportation spot is being considered? Maybe a housing development? A place to do Lewis & Clark camping re-enactments such as they did in Georgetown a few years ago? One of the popular rumors floating around town back when all the land was being bought up was the speculation of a riverboat gambling operation.
It seems like only one man knows and he ain't talking. He doesn't even want any personal information to get out about himself. It just makes you go hmmm.
What do you folks think?
ole nib
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6 comments:
Hey, riverboat gambling, sweet. Don't we have a gambling issue on the ballot next month? My opinion on this guy is this. We live in America, with free enterprise I might add. Even though he's being secretive, he is not doing anything illeagal. This is the way big business people do business. He's not going to let the cat out of the bag until it's time. This protects his interest, so no one else steals his idea. I think it would be awesome to develope that whole bank with condos. This man has money, and he's playing his cards like an expert.
I hope you are right. That would be good for Wellsville.
The issue on the ballot is for one company at one location between Columbus & Cincy. It's a state wide issue but really has nothing to do with us. In fact in recent news it came out that with wording in the issue the state has a chance of not getting one red cent in tax revenue.
I ment nothing negative about Mr. Mallory's business acumen. He's got a legitimate business in Ohio. He evidently has both money & time to invest. No other names were named on the incorporation papers as partners. He certainly seems to have a long term business plan. He started investing over eight years ago. Playing your cards close to your chest has long been an accepted business practice. It's just that inquiring minds want to know what the devil is happening. They don't call me an old nib nose for nothing!
nib
I think he wants the land for industry. It sits right in between river terminals, so I don't think it would be a good place for condos or anything else. My bet is that it will unload cargo containers full of chinese goods for wal-mart or another big box store.
Nib, I just have to say again, I love your site. Someone is burning a fire in my town so far away from the 'Ville, but it reminds me of Fall in the 'Ville. Whenever I need to reconnect with my roots, I just log on to your site, and am happily reminded of the town I grew up in. Many of us have moved away for whatever reason, but we still remember the good things, the good people, and the good times in Wellsville. Just because one has to or chooses to move away doesn't mean they ever lose their heart for such a great community. I miss many of the people there, and feel welcome and fortunate every time I return "home". Thanks Nib . . .keep up the good work. Your site is the best of the local -- rarely do I see negativity here. It's all about community spirit!
I'd be very suspicious of this whole property buying. I lived on a farm outside of Wellsville many years ago. We were approached by Bryer Realty representative about purchasing some of our property. We wondered who was interested in buying the property but Bryer was very closed-mouth. We did some research of own and found the person/persons wanted to use the property for a dump site. Needless to say we declined the offer. Could be nothing, but it seems like such a coincidence that Bryer Realty has been involved in these latest real estate purchases and there is an air of secrecy surrounding the reason. It seems to me that if riverboat gambling was the reason wouldn't this person need other investors?
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