A vacant retail space in Kettering, Ohio's Wilmington Plaza was given new life when it was taken over by a local nonprofit looking to empower job seekers in the area.
Clothes That Work's 10-year deal to occupy the 27,839-square-foot former retail anchor space was chosen as Lease of the Year for Cincinnati and Dayton in the 2026 CoStar Impact Awards, as judged by a panel of local real estate experts.
The deal was praised for both the economic revitalization of a Kettering retail center and strengthened support for underserved populations.
Clothes That Work is a nonprofit that provides both clothing and training to people seeking employment. The new deal doubled its space and allowed the organization to expand its free workforce services amid strong demand from the community.
About the project: Because Clothes That Work was not a traditional tenant for a retail space, the lease was given a unique structure to benefit both the nonprofit and the landlord. The 10-year term provides stable rents for CTW, while the landlord avoided a protracted vacancy.
It also required unique timing, funding and buildout to account for the needs of the tenant.
What the judges said: Andrew Hannah, president of Flex Real Estate, described this lease as the right match between tenant and location.
"Clothes That Work is a great tenant for the market in a typically difficult type of real estate to lease," he said. "The older strip center with limited national tenants makes leasing larger junior box spaces difficult and getting a tenant to take this space. Finding a tenant of this size [is] impressive given the circumstances."
They made it happen: Tracey Herron, senior vice president of sales and leasing for Equity; Steven Speranza, chief development officer, Woodard Development, led the work.