After an unexpected and abrupt closure due to unpaid electric bills, Town Center at Cobb swung its doors back open on Wednesday morning. According to FOX 5 Atlanta, Georgia Power confirmed Town Center Mall had fallen far behind on payments. The utility company noted that before the shutdown, they tried to assist the mall with numerous solutions to avoid disconnection, but the mall remained "highly delinquent."
Despite not having illuminated the mall in months due to the bills, the electricity was restored once the owners met the necessary requirements. The mall's proprietor, Kohan Retail Investment Group, settled their outstanding balances which led to the restoration of power and a return to business as usual for the shopping venue. Mike Kohan, the founder of the company, expressed his commitment to addressing the situation with the tenants directly, saying, "We will accommodate them in any way and shape possible," as reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Shoppers were seen milling around Town Center upon its reopening. The earlier confusion was triggered by closure signs on Tuesday that cited "unforeseen circumstances" and left approximately a thousand employees and numerous customers uncertain about the status of their workplaces and the local shopping hub. Scott Z., a storefront owner, conveyed his astonishment to FOX 5 Atlanta, lamenting the lack of communication from the mall's owners regarding the situation.
Trouble is not unknown to Kohan Retail, which was established by a founder that specializes in acquiring distressed malls. In a concerning trend reported by KAKE, an ABC affiliate in Kansas, a Kohan Retail-owned mall there experienced multiple power shut-offs. Moreover, other properties under the same ownership have encountered similar challenges. The CID's director, Tracy Styf, acknowledged the difficulties faced by the Town Center, stating that the community is "working closely with our economic development partners to identify resources and information to support affected businesses and employees," capturing the broader efforts to assist those impacted by these disruptions, as per information gleaned from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In the wake of the resolution, Georgia Power continues to stress the importance of all customers meeting their obligations, emphasizing that "any customer that is highly delinquent in paying their bills ultimately has a negative impact for all of our customers."
