SouthPark Mall Strongsville: New Restaurants and October Events

The standalone building by SouthPark Mall still has the outline of the Red Lobster that used to be there. Inside, it's a different room. Owner Sheng Long Yu took out almost everything and rebuilt the space for Lao Sze Chuan, using components shipped from China and put together on site. The restaurant was set to open Friday, September 18, and the room now has a glass-encased wine cellar, a large central bar and private dining rooms. Each private room has a big lazy susan that turns at the press of a button.

A few hundred feet away, SouthPark Mall is marking its 30th birthday with a month of events. Both stories are about the same property. The mall is having the party, but much of what has opened around it this year faces the ring road. Lao Sze Chuan took over a former outparcel restaurant. A Pilates studio and a bakery café went into a strip center on the same road. A hotel has been approved for a site next to the mall. The newest anchors of the SouthPark area have street addresses on Southpark Center rather than suite numbers inside the building.

A destination restaurant in a familiar building

Lao Sze Chuan wasn't built to catch shoppers on their way between stores. Its story starts in Chicago's Chinatown in 1998. A year later, Travel and Leisure named it the number one Chinese restaurant in America. Strongsville is Yu's third location, after the Pinecrest location in Orange Village and one in Pittsburgh. It's the second in Ohio.

Cleveland Scene's first look says the Strongsville room tops the other two for interior design. Yu told the paper the team is "very experience-focused" and changed the chairs, the booth fabric and the colors from the Pinecrest design. The menu items called out in that preview include Szechuan-style whole fish, soups and stews kept hot in new ceramic crocks, Peking duck that is marinated, air-dried and roasted until crispy, strip steak kung pao beef, and General Tso's chicken.

Plan on an evening visit. The Strongsville location opened dinner-only. The brand's online menu lists Friday through Sunday dim sum from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., but the page doesn't say which location those hours apply to. Check with the Strongsville restaurant directly before planning a weekend lunch.

Southpark Center, address by address

On a map, the change is clearest when you follow the perimeter road. The city's October 2026 newsletter has a "Businesses on the Move" section, and almost every item in it sits on this one street.

Longhorn sets the baseline. It celebrated 30 years in Strongsville on Sept. 29, the same fall the mall marks its own 30th. Down the road, a building that used to be a Red Lobster now holds a restaurant Cleveland Scene compares favorably to the Pinecrest location.

The 17893 Southpark Center address shows the same trend in smaller form. The city describes BODYBAR Pilates as being around the corner from The Rail, and calls it the first BODYBAR franchise in Northeast Ohio. It offers workout classes for all fitness levels. Paris Baguette is taking a 4,108-square-foot space at the same center, called SouthPark Commons, according to a May 2026 leasing announcement. The city describes the café as offering gourmet cakes and pastries, breads, coffee drinks and savory items like sandwiches. No opening date has been announced, so for now "soon" is the only timing on record.

Put together, the strip has a routine fitness stop, a morning coffee-and-pastry stop and a sit-down dinner within a short drive of each other, all reachable without parking at a mall entrance.

The hotel would bring overnight guests to the same road

The largest addition on the way is a hotel. In September 2026, the Port of Cleveland's board approved financing for a four-story, 132-room hotel with Hampton and Home2 Suites brands under one roof. It's planned for a 1.7-acre site near SouthPark Mall. The Port's announcement targets construction for October 2026 and completion for summer 2028.

The Strongsville Planning Commission approved the final development plan on June 25. In July, Adam Comer, senior manager of development at J Roc Development, told cleveland.com the developers hoped to start construction this fall and open in summer 2028. The same article notes that malls across the country have been adding hotels, offices, housing and other uses not traditionally found at a mall.

October is the target month, but no public report so far has confirmed a groundbreaking. Fencing and equipment on the site would be the first visible sign. If the 2028 date holds, the restaurants and shops on Southpark Center will have hotel guests staying next door who weren't there before.

What is changing inside the mall

The mall's own pipeline points the same way, toward places to spend time rather than another round of apparel stores. SouthPark lists Soar N' Bounce as coming soon on Level 2, with trampolines, climbing, an arcade and other attractions. No opening date is posted. Anime Store Near Me is also listed on Level 2. The retailer's own site gives its address as 500 Southpark Center, Suite CU912.

Both moves give people a reason to drive to SouthPark for an outing, and the anniversary calendar is built the same way.

The 30th-birthday calendar, plus the city's October

SouthPark is celebrating its 30th all month. Most of the events are in Cinemark Court, and they share October with a busy list of city events. Here they are in order:

1. Monday, Oct. 5, 5:30 p.m. Jungle Animal Show with Jungle Terry, Cinemark Court, SouthPark Mall.
2. Wednesday, Oct. 7, 8:30 to 10 a.m. Bingo & Breakfast presented by SPRY Senior, food court.
3. Thursday, Oct. 8, 5 and 6:30 p.m. KooKoo the Cartoon Magician, Cinemark Court.
4. Saturday, Oct. 10. Hometown Heroes banner dedication at 10 a.m. at Town Center Park, then Community Day from 1 to 3 p.m. with food trucks, games and live entertainment.
5. Tuesday, Oct. 13, 5:30 p.m. DinoROAR Show, Cinemark Court.
6. Wednesday, Oct. 14, 5 to 7 p.m. Strongsville Community Business Expo at the Ehrnfelt Recreation Center, with more than 100 local businesses and restaurants expected.
7. Saturday, Oct. 17, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Trick or Treat in the Village at the Historical Village, 13305 Pearl Road. Admission is $1 or one nonperishable food item.
8. Sunday, Oct. 18, 1 to 3 p.m. Malloween at SouthPark, with trick-or-treating and entertainment.
9. Saturday, Oct. 24, 1 to 3 p.m. Trick or Trail at Town Center Park, 18300 Zverina Lane, with trick-or-treating, food trucks and a surprise guest.
10. Saturday, Oct. 31. An adult Halloween scavenger-hunt fun run at 9 a.m. at Town Center Park, then citywide trick-or-treat from 6 to 8 p.m.

Two dates are good chances to see the ring road itself. The Business Expo on Oct. 14 puts more than 100 local businesses and restaurants in one room. Malloween on Oct. 18 ends at 3 p.m., which leaves the rest of the afternoon free before Lao Sze Chuan's dinner service starts.

One road note if you approach from the west side of town: Westwood Drive has been closed in both directions between Siedel's Landing Place and Olde Creek Trail since Aug. 7 for a culvert replacement. The city estimated the work at about three months, and the posted detour runs along Prospect, Albion, Snell, Clarke and Westwood.

At Chehade Group, we follow these openings, leases and approvals along Southpark Center because they shape how this part of Strongsville is used day to day. If you'd like to talk about how the SouthPark corridor and the planned 2028 hotel affect your own plans in Strongsville, contact us.