Montgomery Mall retailers, shoppers await word on future under new Kohan ownership
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that the Deep Six CBD store at the Montgomery Mall was closed. The store opened on Oct. 26, 2022.
Scoring the right Phillies jersey can be a challenge, and, even more so, when the escalators are blocked off.
Inside the Montgomery Mall, Martine Toner wondered how she would get to the second-floor S&B Sports Collectibles shop. during a recent trip. Two pairs of escalators ― one on the east wing and another at the center of the shopping mall ― were disabled and quartered off with signs on a recent weekend.
Eventually, Toner discovered a working elevator but no T-shirts with the name of her favorite, All-Star leftfielder Kyle Schwarber, available for purchase. Toner and her son, Ricky, then grabbed a bite to eat in the Montgomery Mall food court, where half the food vendor stalls were vacant.
Montgomery Mall has struggled since before the pandemic, and, under new ownership, many worry about its fate. Last month, one former retail store was given over to the Rotary Club for meetings. A former Deep Six CBD location now serves as advertisement for the North Wales Library.
Shopkeepers in the mall said they had received little or no information about plans to attract shoppers during the holiday season. Located in the mall parking lot, the Bertucci's and Outback Steakhouse restaurants had customers. At the Chick-fil-A next door, a line of drive-thru customers encircled the restaurant.
Yet few cars were actually parked outside the mall.
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The mall added a Wegmans supermarket in 2012, and the presence of Wegmans was expected to draw traffic to sustain other shops. In the months that followed, Montgomery Mall added other stores and restaurants.
When it was owned by Simon Properties, that company had reported 73% of its retail space under lease, according to a 2021 10-K annual report for investors. Not a publicly traded company, Kohan is not required to file such annual reports.
Located in Montgomery Township, the Montgomery Mall was acquired last summer by the Kohan Retail Investment Group for $55 million, court records show. The mall was once valued at $195 million.
On its website, the Montgomery Mall directory lists some stores that are no longer open for business. One of more recent attractions, a Deep Six CBD store opened inside the mall on Oct. 26, mall officials said.
The new owner, based in New York, has a history of acquiring and working to reinvigorate malls, and Kohan has also made headlines for properties in some peril.
On Oct. 10 and Nov. 21, this news organization contacted the mall, seeking information about future tenants and plans for the coming holiday season. The company did not respond.
In October, retailers at a Kohan-owned Midland Mall, of Michigan, were informed that they could be removed from the property because of long-standing problems with the fire alarms, as reported by the Midland Daily News.
In February 2020, the Star Beacon of Ohio reported that Kohan "owes millions in taxes" related to malls in Ohio, Massachusetts and New York.
One mall property in upstate New York reportedly had its electricity shut off after the utility said Kohan had failed to pay the bill.
If Kohan is planning changes at Montgomery Mall, the local government was not informed, said Carolyn McCreary, manager of Montgomery Township.
"There have been no plans or discussions as to the future of the mall or any redevelopment of the property," McCreary said. "Obviously, the mall was negatively impacted by COVID-19 and shoppers utilizing online shopping who may have never done so in the past.
"The mix of stores is also vital to a mall’s appeal to shoppers of all ages," she continued. "Also with larger department stores, the anchors dwindling or closing entirely the blueprint for a mall of the past needs to be reevaluated."
In some communities, Kohan has sought tax breaks to cover repairs and renovations its properties.
On its website, Kohan lists 50 retail locations in its portfolio. That includes five Pennsylvania locations:
Clearview Mall, Bulter
Colonial Park Mall, Harrisburg
Lycoming Mall, Pennsdale
Washington Crown Center, Washington
Wyoming Valley Mall, Wilkes-Barre
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Montgomery Mall shoppers, retailers await word on center's future
