North Franklin supervisors OK emergency work to reopen Washington Crown Center
Washington Crown Center will reopen Thursday after a water line break forced it to close the past three days, prompting township officials to approve an emergency repair.
North Franklin Township supervisors voted to make the repairs to the mall at their board meeting Tuesday. Robert Sabot, board chairman, said the move was necessary due to inaction of Michael Kohan, who owns the property.
“We’re absolutely appalled by the conduct of (Kohan),” Sabot said. “He is not doing his job as a mall owner. We’ve had it with him playing around down there. He has a wonderful location and that mall can be extremely successful. He needs to sell. I just told him on the phone, ‘We’re fixing your water because you’re not,'” Sabot said.
Kohan is the owner of Kohan Retail Investment Group, based in Great Neck, N.Y., which has a portfolio of retail locations and hotels across the country. When reached by phone Wednesday, Kohan confirmed that he made the decision to close the mall due to the water line break, but demurred when asked why action was not taken sooner.
He indicated he could potentially be convinced to sell the property.
“If I have a good offer from a buyer, of course. If the township has any prospective buyers, I’d be more than glad to do that,” Kohan said.
On Wednesday morning, workers from Alex Paris Contracting and McKean Plumbing and Heating were digging behind Rural King in an effort to locate the break. Sabot said he expects the bill to come to around $15,000. The township will place a lien against the property for the cost of the work.
According to Sabot, the cause of the issue was a valve that had split open. Work crews were able to restore the water by Wednesday evening.
Due to the closure, businesses inside the mall have not been able to operate this week. Most stores with exterior entrances, such as Rural King and MAC.BID, were able to remain open. Two portable toilets could be seen outside the entrance to Ollie’s Bargain Outlet. Marshalls had signs posted on its doors indicating it would be closed until the water issue was resolved.
Sabot clarified that the only businesses required to close due to a lack of water are restaurants.
The lack of running water also means the building’s sprinkler system and fire hydrants on the property may not function properly.
“We have a health and safety issue here,” Sabot said. “My concern was there was no water to the hydrants. If something happened catastrophically at the mall, we would have no water.”
In a press release issued Wednesday morning, Sabot lobbed further criticism toward Kohan.
“Mr. Kohan is running million-dollar businesses all over the country yet is unable to attend to simple infrastructure repairs at Crown Center,” Sabot wrote.