T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY The owners of the Lucky Friday Bin Store, Remix Dance Studio, Mama DiGrado’s, Game Haven and Oliver Beene Designs met with Marshalltown Mall Manager Scott Wacha and Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO John Hall on Tuesday night to discuss their options going forward amidst an ongoing power shutoff due to the New York-based ownership group failing to pay utility bills.

A group of several business owners within the Marshalltown Mall, along with Manager Scott Wacha, came together with Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO John Hall on Tuesday night at Mama DiGrado’s to discuss their options for the future and ways to hold the New York-based company that owns the property accountable for failing to pay utility bills over an extended period of time, ultimately resulting in a shutoff of external lights and power at the common area inside the mall.

As previously reported, the power was shut off on Friday due to nonpayment by the Kohan Retail Investment Group, which owns the mall through its holding company Marshalltown Development Group LLC, and all of the businesses without external entrances were forced to close at the order of the fire marshal due to safety concerns. One of those businesses, Oliver Beene Designs, which came to the mall from the Meadow Lane Mall earlier this year, has already announced its intentions to move to a downtown space at 214 E. Main St.

Those that do have their own entrances have been able to stay open thus far (and Hobby Lobby has placed temporary lights in its parking lot to illuminate the area), but the possibility of a pipe breaking or the sprinkler system failing to notify the Marshalltown Fire Department in the event of an emergency still looms large.

Rolly Danner, the owner of Mama DiGrado’s, first posed the question of legal representation and whether a lawsuit was a feasible option, but Hall, who had previously dealt with the Kohan group when he worked in Story City as a similar situation unfolded, offered a fairly blunt assessment of those prospects.

“The reality is the way they structure this is (that) every individual asset’s an individual LLC. I would imagine the bank account that this LLC has is pretty tight in terms of the dollars they keep in it, so if there’s a lawsuit, the only thing you’re going after is the overall asset, which they can drag out for years,” he said. “And that’s what they’ve done in other communities… They’re insulated. They’re protected. This is the way they do business.”

Later in the meeting, he did mention the possibility of a future closed session with the city council to discuss potential legal actions that could be taken against the owners, and Wacha shared a similar view on a potential lawsuit, telling the others it would amount to “throwing money away” because of Kohan’s deep pockets and Hall’s previous experience with them.

Oliver Beene Co-Owner Rhonda Braudis urged the other business owners to be up to date on their insurance policies and find out what they do and don’t cover, and she and Wacha gave a shout out to TLC Associates for moving the alarm panel into their office so that the sprinkler system notifier could be powered. Wacha then explained that while the system itself is purely mechanical and would still work without power, the notification system for the fire department does require it.

With that hurdle cleared, the threat of the entire mall being shut down for fire code violations is eliminated, but there are still plenty of other challenges the owners face under the current circumstances. Nonetheless, Wacha indicated he had spoken to Kohan Retail Investment Group Founder Mike Kohan and received assurance that he will be “fluid by the 15th” and is adamant about keeping the mall open.

For Danner, however, that wasn’t enough, and he, like the Oliver Beene owners, is exploring other options about where he could relocate his business.

“Everyone here is looking for a new spot, and I hate to say it, but everyone is looking for another spot regardless of what’s going on or what’s gonna happen,” he said. “I’ve told you guys (that) if I were in your shoes and I had a building yesterday, I’d be moving today.”

As the topic of a potential lawsuit came back up, Braudis felt the focus should be on moving forward and seeking community input on where places like Remix Dance Studio, Game Haven and others could find a new home. Hall is distributing a survey to businesses to assess their needs and potentially connect them with realtors and commercial property owners.

“I think the goal is we want to stay local. I certainly didn’t wanna leave Marshalltown. It’s been very good to us. We didn’t wanna leave our customer base,” Braudis said. “I think that there’s enough here that we can make this work. We’ve just gotta find the right spaces.”

Hall felt the business owners could leverage the “collective goodwill” they have amassed due to the unfortunate situation and use it to find the right spots within the community. As Braudis noted, the costs of moving can accumulate quickly, and the Chamber could utilize initiatives like no-interest deferred loans to potentially assist them in relocating.

Game Haven Owner Scott Turner expressed skepticism about Kohan’s claim of getting the mall back up and running, citing other examples of cities where their malls have been shut down permanently, and he said he’s already outgrown his space. The lack of exterior lighting is another major concern.

“The parking lot gets so dark at night. It’s ridiculous, and I can only imagine once the temperature drops and we start getting that S-word… there’s nothing,” Turner said.

With a homeless encampment nearby, the business owners said they have been personally walking customers to their cars to ensure their safety, and Hall encouraged them to reach out to the Marshalltown Police Department about when they plan to close as well as coordinating extra patrols if needed. Wacha is working on securing a 200 amp diesel generator to help light the “ring road” around the building.

As the man who is somewhat “stuck in the middle” in the situation, Wacha said he was confused about what was happening especially as plans for further expansion and development in the mall have been progressing.

“(Kohan) understands, as much as he can, what’s going on here. Ideally, he would like to, as far as I know, pay for the lights next week, be back up and running and for this to all just go away,” Wacha said. “I don’t think that’s gonna happen with the folks at this table, but there’s nothing I can do to change that.”

That led to several more questions about the ownership structure and an apparent transition to a new holding company last year, with Danner noting that his most recent rent check still hasn’t been cashed yet.

“It’s too fishy for us to stay here, that’s what I feel like,” Remix Co-Director Angie Torres said. “We can’t get any answers.”

Braudis lamented the shutoff reversing what was otherwise a trend of positive momentum at the mall with new stores and businesses coming in, but for her, it boiled down to the simple reality of not being able to risk being closed for an extended period of time and losing all of that income.

“When we moved in here, we planned on being here for a really, really long time, and we were not in the greatest position to have to do what we’ve done, but we also can’t be shut down because we will end up closing,” she said. “It’s a shame because Marshalltown needs good businesses. They need us.”

Hall also worried that a single safety incident in the now dark parking lot could push people away and discourage them from returning, but he was quick to praise those at the meeting for being proactive and accommodating their customers through the period of adversity.

He also discussed potential new locations for affected businesses, but a familiar theme of “astronomical” prices to buy or rent space emerged.

“There are folks out there that are gonna be sympathetic (enough) to the story and what’s going on here that we may be able to get some goodwill opportunities that maybe otherwise wouldn’t be available,” Hall said. “We’re gonna have to start beating some skulls together and seeing if we can work on these prices… There’s a lot of pieces on this. Again, that’s where I can be helpful in trying to negotiate some of that down to get people to a more realistic price point and give comparables within our market and be helpful on approaching some of that stuff.”

Danner shared that he was considering acquiring the former Diamond Vogel Paint Store downtown and would potentially have enough room inside to bring another business with him. Rogelio Plascencia, the owner of the Lucky Friday Bin Store, told the group he wasn’t currently interested in moving and hoped the situation would work out in the end.

Ultimately, Hall and the business owners wanted to hammer home a recurring theme since the power was cut last Friday: the blame should not rest with anyone locally.

“I think too often, the narrative gets away that Marshalltown sucks and Marshalltown can’t support anything, and that’s not the issue that we’re facing right now. And so I do appreciate that I’ve heard that reflected in all the posts we’ve seen and there’s true camaraderie around rallying around how we support one another,” Hall said.

Danner was complimentary of the sense of community that has been created there and said he didn’t envy the position Wacha, whose wife owns a business in the mall, found himself in at the moment. The manager said he’s done his best to fight for the mall and try to make sure safety and liability concerns are being addressed, sending multiple emails a day to ownership.

Everyone there was thankful for the support they’ve received from the community in the last week, and as Braudis put it, their message should remain simple — “We are Marshalltown Strong, and we are not leaving.”

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641–753–6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.