COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A popular mall in Cobb County is shut down “until further notice...due to unforeseen circumstances.” But a Georgia Power representative says mall management and community leaders were made aware of the issues.
Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell dropped by Town Center at Cobb on Tuesday morning where she found a sign on the door confirming that the mall was closed.
Georgia Power says they have been working with Town Center for several months to resolve their “highly delinquent” bills. They went on to say that disconnecting service at the mall was a “last resort.”
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Macy’s, Belk and JCPenney’s are three of the mall’s big anchor stores that remain open, but the doors connecting them to the rest of the mall are closed. Those stores can remain open because they pay a separate utility bill.
Georgia Power leaders said mall management and tenants received letters and onsite signage alerting them to the upcoming closure.
Georgia Power’s full statement goes on to say that they could not continue extending a grace period for Town Center at Cobb. There is no word when power will be restored.
We work with Georgia Power customers every day to address past due bills and make payment arrangements to avoid disconnection, which is always a last resort for our company. In this case, we’ve tried to work with Town Center Mall for many months and have provided numerous solutions to assist them in avoiding disconnection. Unfortunately, any customer that is highly delinquent in paying their bills ultimately has a negative impact for all of our customers so, while we will continue to work with the customer and are hopeful a payment will be made, we can no longer continue to extend the grace period. We provided advance notice regarding this disconnection to mall management, as well as tenants, by delivering letters in person and placing signage onsite. We also made key community leaders aware.
— Georgia Power spokesperson
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Newell learned that the owner of the mall has run into similar financial issues before.
The mall’s owner said a maintenance issue resulted in the closure and that it would be resolved in two hours. She called him back two hours later, but couldn’t get an answer and there was still no power in the mall.
Store owners say they were blindsided.
“We showed up this morning, everything was shuttered,” Shane Star, owner of Starcade, said. “Without telling any of the tenants, myself included, they just pulled the plug and locked everything up and now we can’t get in.”
“This is your livelihood. Yeah, I got bills, I got mortgage, I got car notes, all this stuff,” store owner Frantz Baptiste said.
Kohan Retail Investment Group Property owns the mall. In September 2023, the Secretary of State’s Office said the property owner was operating in delinquency and administratively dissolved that month.
Everything was brought back into compliance in May 2024.
T.V. reports show problems with the same owner in Iowa, a mall there allegedly closed due to an unpaid electricity bill.
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