By BEN FIELDS
ASHLAND — Steve Blair hasn’t changed much during the past two weeks.
He still smiles when he talks. His cell phone still rings every 30 seconds. And he still likes to spitball about business.
“Meijer is still interested in Ashland. The market is maybe two or three years away,” Blair says, almost as an aside, referring to the big box discount retailer that was frequently rumored to be coming while Blair was manager of the Kyova Mall.
Actually, it was more than a rumor.
“When you start spending $30,000 to $40,000 on architectural renderings, it’s not a rumor,” Blair said.
He’s speaking about a development that was planned back between 2001 and 2003, when the Kyova Mall was still the Cedar Knoll Galleria, and the owner was still Zamias.
Meijer was bounced around for a while, as was Target.
Blair said he couldn’t get the help he needed in the form of tax incentives from the county government in place at the time to make the deal happen.
It was one of many frustrations Blair said he had to put up with in trying to make the mall — which had trouble keeping tenants ever since it opened in 1989 — a success.
But it doesn’t explain why Blair suddenly quit as general manager of the Kyova Mall more than two weeks ago.
By all accounts, things seemed to be going well.
After Zamias went bankrupt, new ownership Reyton Cedar Knoll LLC purchased the mall at auction in 2004, and implemented a host of cosmetic changes.
Blair and ownership landed new tenants, including a new stadium-seating movie theater expected to be complete by late spring.
Blair also started a push to land more restaurants, by supporting a petition that would put a “moist law” on the ballot for a vote. The law would allow restaurants that make 70 percent of their revenue from food sales and seat at least 100 people to serve liquor by-the-drink.
Though Ashland has been moist since 1980, the push was still controversial in dry Boyd County.
And despite the idea receiving a good deal of support, Blair said he received an endless stream of threatening phone calls and hate mail.
Blair admits the petition drive, which was successful, did play into his decision to leave the mall.
“I was a little disappointed in these people, who called themselves Christians but sent in a letter that would make you wonder,” Blair said. “You’re trying to do what you think is a good thing, and you get all of these nasty letters in the mail ... it takes a toll.
“You fight and fight for as long as you can ... I wanted to make sure we got those signatures, but once that got done, it was time for a break.”
Blair also admitted that his relationship with the mall ownership was somewhat strained when he left.
“The owner has a right to manage the property the way he wants, and I respect that,” Blair said. “I feel like I had a vision, and they had a vision, and they weren’t the same.”
Blair said he is now considering starting his own business as a consultant, among other options.
He said he views his time at the mall as a positive experience.
“Absolutely,” he said. “We filled more square footage than we ever had before, and that theater is going to be a huge, huge success.”
