Towne West's power restored following disconnection due to late payment, tenants frustrated - KWCH

Towne West’s power restored following disconnection due to late payment, tenants frustrated

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Power was restored to Towne West Square Mall Monday afternoon after it was cut off early in the morning. The outage lasted about six hours.

Evergy spokesperson Gina Penzig said Monday that Kohan Retail Investment Group, which owns Towne West mall in Wichita, has once again fallen delinquent on the electricity bill for the building, and the electric service faces disconnection.

The larger stores at the mall have separate accounts that Penzig said remain in good standing and are not subject to disconnection.

Towne West has struggled to make payments in the second half of 2023. The same situation happened twice this summer, and tenants received a disconnection notice late last month.

A person with Lazerworx said Monday that power to her store was cut at 7:20 a.m. Another establishment, Passageways, LTD, said Sunday night that disconnection was imminent. The outage is the second shutoff due to late payment. This also happened two months ago.

Monday afternoon, 12 News spoke with mall tenants about how losing power is hurting their business.

For larger anchor businesses like Dick’s Sporting Goods, not much changes when power is disconnected because they’re on separate power plans.

But for smaller shops, the outages take a toll.

“You know, if this keeps up much longer, I’ll be out of business,” said Steve’s Jams and Jellies owner Ken Smith.

He said the constant disconnect notices scare off customers.

“I’m tired of this happening all the time. I don’t need disconnect notices on the doors. I don’t need you to scare away all our customers,” Smith said.

He said losing even one day of work leading up to the holidays hurts.

“Farmers markets are done for the year. I rely heavily on the storefront to keep us alive and the Christmas sales help us get stocked up for the next year,” Smith said. “This is going to hurt us bad.”

Jennifer Garrison runs part of her nonprofit, Passageways, out of the mall. She also discussed the frustration the power issues bring.

“We are completely out of the loop. We haven’t heard anything from the mall, management, etc. as far as what’s going to be happening. But then they may not know what’s happening since this is all really coming from New York that’s not taking care of the bills,” Garrison said.

Researching other properties owned by the Kohan Group, the Marshalltown Mall in Iowa and the Tulsa Prominade Mall, which closed in September, have had problems with upkeep, reports show.

Smith has one message for the mall owners.

“We pay our rent on time like you’d expect, but you need to pay your bills, period,” he said.

Several mall tenants who spoke with 12 News Monday said they’re looking for new places to do business after losing power again. As of Monday evening, calls to the Kohan Group haven’t been answered.

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