Betty Jarvis of Tallmadge has been a mall walker at Chapel Hill Mall for nearly 30 years.
She’s seen the ups and downs of the mall, which last week was purchased by a New York businessman who specializes in buying distressed malls.
The recent exit of Macy’s department store and other shops such as Old Navy and Aeropostale have hurt the mall, Jarvis said.
“I would give it a 50-50 chance. Hopefully, it’ll happen. We need something to replace Macy’s. I have no idea what,” she said. “We’d hate to lose [the mall].”
Jarvis and her walking buddy of seven years, Evelyn Yareff of Akron, said they like new owner Mike Kohan’s idea to bring a mix of entertainment and retail to the mall.
“Let’s face it: A lot of people are going to Amazon to buy things. I don’t get it. I like to touch what I’m getting,” Jarvis said, though she admitted that she and Yareff usually come to the mall to walk for an hour three days a week but don’t stay to shop.
Kohan, owner of Kohan Retail Investment Group, said last week that he buys malls to revitalize them. He has been to Chapel Hill Mall on Brittain Road three times and sees potential. He knows there needs to be more stores — he estimates the mall is about 75 percent occupied, which is not good. But he takes this year’s additions of Party City and Rainbow as good signs.
Kohan, 51, whose full name is Mehren Kohansieh, purchased the mall from U.S. Bank for $8.6 million. The previous owner, CBL & Associates Properties, gave the property back to the bank in 2014 to avoid foreclosure.
Kohan, who owns 17 properties and has another under contract, acknowledged that his track record has been pocked with successes and controversy. In some cases, governments have had to go to court after his properties weren’t properly maintained or fell behind in taxes.
He acknowledged that he’s lost money and learned the hard way that some properties he bought were too far away from being revitalized, and “unfortunately it got worse and worse.” But he said he also has success stories.
Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan said he has been discussing the mall’s future with mayors in nearby Cuyahoga Falls and Tallmadge.
“We were anticipating the sale of the mall, and we are in contact with the new owner to discuss pathways forward,” he said, noting Chapel Hill’s impact on each of the cities.
Properties afar
Officials in three communities where Kohan is a current or past mall owner responded to requests to discuss their experiences dealing with the businessman.
In Worthington, Minn., a small rural community of 13,000 people, the city had to take Kohan to court to condemn parts of Northland Mall for health and safety reasons. Kohan had purchased the mall for $1.8 million in 2009. The mall was in a state of deterioration at the time, with an already closed Kmart attached, said Bradley Chapulis, Worthington director of community and economic development. But over the course of the next seven years or so, the mall went into further disrepair and fell behind in taxes.
“He had aspirations of bringing in new tenants that didn’t transpire,” said Chapulis.
But Chapulis said he can’t say the decline was from intentional neglect on Kohan’s part.
“It just followed what was happening on a national basis,” he said, referring to enclosed malls’ struggle as Americans shop at other retail outlets and online.
As the city was in court to get permission to demolish the mall, Kohan sold the property. It was sold once more, demolished, and will soon become an auto dealer and retail project, Chapulis said.
In upstate New York, Kohan only owned Rotterdam Square Mall for about a year in 2014 before he sold it to a Turkish developer. The new owner is about to open an aquarium in one former store and successfully opened a family entertainment center with a bowling area and other entertainment, said Ray Gillen, commissioner for economic development for Schenectady County.
Kohan did have a dispute with the electric company, which resulted in the electricity being turned off at the mall for a few days. That was troubling, Gillen said, but Kohan wired the money the same day.
“He didn’t really own it long. He was always friendly and good to work with. He was responsive, and there was the unfortunate problem with the power company,” said Gillen.
Kohan sold it to Via Properties, a development company based in Istanbul, which bought the property under Viaport New York LLC for $9.25 million. Kohan bought it for $8.5 million a year earlier.
“I think he just decided this was better left with another company,” Gillen said.
City officials for a third mall of Kohan’s, Promenade Mall in Tulsa, Okla., didn’t have much to say about Kohan one way or the other. In an interview, Kohan had mentioned Promenade as one of his successes.
When asked about how the mall was doing and about Kohan as an owner, city of Tulsa spokeswoman Michelle Allen would only say, “We have two malls in the city of Tulsa. Promenade is located in the central area of Tulsa, and Woodland Hills is located in the southern area of Tulsa. Both malls offer a wide range of shopping options for our citizens and both have well-known anchor tenants.”
Optimistic about future
Back at Chapel Hill, J.C. Penney General Manager Rich Gotch said he’s optimistic about the future of the mall and new ownership.
Kohan has called to talk to Gotch and get the 12-year veteran’s opinions.
“I’m hopeful he can do it,” Gotch said of the turnaround. “The mall has a lot of upside to it. It just needs the right attractions and needs some capital investment.”
Gotch said anything to add foot traffic to the mall will help. He points to his store’s recent addition of Sephora beauty supplies and to an upcoming addition of major appliances on Aug. 5. After 33 years, J.C. Penney has decided to get back into selling major appliances, and the Chapel Hill and Montrose stores are among the 10 in the Akron-Cleveland area getting appliances.
That’s a good sign of investment in Chapel Hill, said Gotch.
Dorothy Achimasi of Tallmadge was shopping at J.C. Penney on Friday. Achimasi estimates she comes to the mall three times a month to shop.
“If this store were closed, I’d say the mall was dying,” she said. Achimasi said she’d also like to see a mix of more stores and nontraditional uses for the mall to get people to come.
She said she hasn’t personally felt unsafe at the mall, but “a lot of people I know” worry about safety. “I’m not going to worry, but I don’t think it’s unfounded.”
Mall walker Jarvis and her friend said they didn’t feel there was a safety issue, but also said they haven’t been to the mall at night.
Joe Parillo, 25, of Kent has been to Chapel Hill a few times since moving to the area from Boardman five months ago. He thinks it’s safe, though empty.
Parillo was looking for a Hot Topic store Friday morning. He couldn’t find it in the former Macy’s wing, which has more vacancies than open stores.
“I can’t believe how many stores have closed ... it looks mostly empty,” said Parillo. The Hot Topic store was in the opposite wing, and it was unclear if Parillo found it before he left.
“Honestly, I think the mall is eventually going to close,” Parillo said.
When asked what he thought could get more young people to the mall, Parillo said a bar with pool tables.
Fred Salzwimmer, Chapel Hill operations manager, said he thinks only time will tell whether Kohan can turn things around. “I think it’s got great potential ... Mike has good ideas,” he said.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com.