Kohan's Cobb County Mall Had Power Cut After Missing Payments. It Says A Turnaround Is Coming
The owner of Town Center at Cobb, who narrowly avoided losing the mall to foreclosure last year, managed to get its lights back on a day after Georgia Power cut the property's power due to “highly delinquent” bills.
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Georgia Power shut off electricity on Tuesday to the core retail section of the Cobb County mall, which is owned by Kohan Retail Investment Group, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. A Georgia Power spokesperson told the newspaper that Kohan was “highly delinquent in paying their bills” despite a “grace period” and the utility having “provided numerous solutions to assist them in avoiding disconnection.”
Kohan CEO Mike Kohan told Bisnow that the billing issue “was a discrepancy that was resolved.”
Power was restored as of Wednesday morning “after [Kohan] met the necessary requirements,” Georgia Power spokesperson Alicia Brown confirmed to Bisnow. Brown declined to offer details on the resolution.
Kohan didn't detail what the discrepancy was that led to power bills going unpaid, but he said his account is now up-to-date and that he accommodated its mall tenants over the power outage. The AJC reported that roughly 140 tenants operate in the mall outside of anchor tenants Macy’s and JCPenney, which own their stores and were unaffected by the electrical disconnection.
Georgia Power’s action comes five months after Kohan narrowly avoided foreclosure on the 560K SF core portion of the mall after previously defaulting on a $42M loan from Augusta-based Hull Property Group. Hull posted a foreclosure notice on Aug. 9, but Kohan paid off the loan the same day, preempting the foreclosure.
Kohan appears to have refinanced that loan with a $46.7M mortgage that matures in February 2026, according to the real estate database Reonomy. The lender is identified as Aff V Noonday LP, a shell company registered in Delaware.
Kohan said his firm has been pushing to revitalize Town Center at Cobb in Kennesaw, where the average household income of $81,400/year is nearly 2.5% over the national median income, by bringing in more tenants, including more entertainment options.
The Great Neck, New York-based investor has gained notoriety for buying struggling malls around the country and dropping rents to operate them cheaply rather than push for redevelopment or substantial renovation.
The firm owns more than 40 malls across the U.S. and has faced criticism of its ownership of various properties in recent years because it has let them languish or failed to pay local taxes and other bills. It has been dubbed a "mall scavenger" and accused of operating zombie malls.
It followed that playbook at Town Center at Cobb, which had been owned by mall giant Simon Property Group until 2021 when lender Deutsche Bank foreclosed on a $166.7M loan. Kohan purchased the mall in 2023 for $71M, and the bank took a $96.5M loss on its mortgage.
Under Kohan’s ownership, Savannah Mall fell into disrepair before the firm sold the property in 2022. A Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, township sued Kohan for unpaid property taxes and sewer and stormwater bills. Last month, the city of Marshalltown, Iowa, ordered Kohan to repair code violations or be found in contempt of court over his Marshalltown Mall, which was without power for months.
Kohan sold Marshalltown Mall to Texas-based Reserve Development this month, the Times-Republican reported.
He doesn't plan on giving up on the Town Center at Cobb, citing the money he has already spent on trying to fix it up. But he acknowledged a turnaround won't be easy.
“It’s a good mall, and we definitely have a lot of investment in this mall,” Kohan said. “We’re definitely working towards getting more tenants in and being more profitable. Obviously, we have our challenges and are working through it to overcome those barriers.”