MUSCATINE, Iowa — In its glory days, the Muscatine Mall was a local hot spot for shopping and gathering.

That hasn’t been the case for many years. Throughout much of the 1990s, and especially after anchor store Von Maur pulled out, the mall’s occupancy rate plunged. Owners came and went and new plans were pitched. Customer traffic slowed substantially.

Occupancy has improved somewhat over the past four years, including the addition of  anchor store Elder-Beerman and a handful of local and franchise tenants, but the mall is still about half vacant.

New owners who took over last summer already have made some repairs to the building and are promising more. However, some current and former tenants say a lot more must be done soon, including fixing a roof that has been leaking in many places for several years.

Mall owners declined last week to comment on the complaints voiced by some business owners.

However, some customers also voiced concerns, including the leaky roof.

“It’s not safe,” said Mike Carpenter, a Muscatine shopper. “The (floor) tiles are ceramic and can be a hazard if they get wet.” 

On a recent day, nine buckets occupied the mall’s main hallway area, each of them sitting in puddles of water. Buckets have been seen in the hallways more than a few times over the past several years.

Carpenter said he used to visit the mall more often when it was busier and had more stores. The only times he visits now is to see a movie at Fridley Theatres, which is located inside the mall.

“The mall used to be a place everyone went to. Now there’s nothing there,” he said.

Jason Hancock of Des Moines visited the mall in 2005, and contributed his impressions to the Web site, www.deadmalls.com.

“I was surprised to see how dead it was,” Hancock said. “It’s anchored by JCPenney, Elder-Beerman and Menards, but there is little in between.”

According to its Web site, www.deadmalls.com is a not-for-profit endeavor used to promote the history of shopping malls, as well as their current status. It was started by New York-based retail historians, Peter Blackbird and Brian Florence.

Hancock, who had visited the mall as a child in 1987 wrote that he wondered what caused the mall to go downhill.

Previous owners blamed

Gary Carlson, president of the Greater Muscatine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, believes the decline of the Muscatine Mall was due largely to a lack of interest by its out-of-state owners, referring to Chicago-based Landau & Heyman, which owned the mall from 1998-2006.

“Clearly to me, it was an ownership issue. We had owners out of the Chicago area that did not make investments to the mall that needed to have been made,” Carlson said.

In July 2006, the mall was purchased by a group of four Quad City-based investors for $2.9 million. 

“I think we will be more hands on. … This is an opportunity to revitalize an important business,” Thad Denhartog, one of the mall’s new owners, said in an interview with the Muscatine Journal in July 2006.

Improvements have already been made to the mall since the new ownership took over. Repairs to the building’s exterior took place late 2006.

According to mall officials, more improvements to the mall are scheduled for this summer.

Meanwhile, some tenants are pleased overall with the new ownership, while a couple of former tenants who say they were forced out are openly critical.

Ex-tenant’s complaints

Marc Haney, owner of the Computer Dock, a computer repair store that, until recently, was located inside the Muscatine Mall, feels he was squeezed out by the owners.

Haney said he signed a rental agreement with the previous owners which stated rent amount, any repairs to the store to be completed and length of lease.

“The day before I officially opened my store, I was informed by the manager that the mall had been sold,” Haney said.

He said the new owners showed him a different lease, one which omitted everything he had negotiated for with the previous owners.

“I had just spent thousands of dollars, not including business down time, getting this new storefront ready, just to be informed that (the new owners) didn’t care what agreement I had with the previous manager,” Haney said.

One such improvement Haney sought was a repair to the leaking ceiling.

He said the new owners never addressed the leak, which he said was a threat to his computer store.

“The worst part of the leak was that it was over the area where I built and repaired computers. Every time it even looked like rain, I had to move everything out of the way of the leakage,” Haney said.

He said he contacted the mall maintenance each time, and showed them the leak.

Haney said that when management finally responded, he was told he could leave if he

didn’t like the mall.

Haney said the furnace stopped working in November 2006. He said that after reporting the problem to management, he was told there was nothing wrong with the unit.

After two incidences of smelling exhaust fumes in his unit, he contacted Kelly Heating to investigate.

“I was informed that the heat exchanger had an 18-inch crack and that the unit had been condemned twice before,” Haney said. “I finally got a furnace installed after five weeks. To the mall’s credit, they did supply me with four electric space heaters.”

On Jan. 15 of this year, Haney received a notice that the Muscatine Mall would not renew his lease, and wanted its space back effective Feb. 1.

“A whole two weeks notice to find a new location and move a business,” Haney said.

Haney feels the new owners have no concern for local business.

“I have lived in Muscatine all of my life and have worked retail and owned my own business for 15 years, and I have never been treated with as much disrespect,” Haney said.

Haney said he will soon  reopen his business elsewhere in town. 

Mall owners declined to comment on Haney’s complaints.

In February, Jeannie Terry, owner of the Coffee Cup, a business located on an out lot, said she was told by mall owners that her lease would not be renewed, and that she had until March 1 to vacate the premises.

Terry said she, too, would have appreciated a longer notice.

Kevin Koellner, one of the mall’s four new co-owners, said then that the property was listed   on the market before his group purchased the mall last year. Scott Anderson and Rod Blackwell are the other two co-owners.

Other business owners say they are pleased with the changes the new ownership has made so far.

“Their intention is to get the mall built back up. I think if we give them time, things will be done, and hopefully people will come back out to the mall and shop,” said Lynn Pohren, owner of Beacon of Hope, a Christian bookstore inside the mall.

“All of us would like to see everything just zoom, and be completely done, but we have to be realistic,” she said.

Beacon of Hope has been in the mall since November 2004. Pohren said she has been treated better than expected by the new mall management and owners. 

“(Mall manager) Toni Klaren has gone above and beyond. She has been so supportive,” Pohren said.

Pohren said her store ceiling  doesn’t leak, but she has heard about stores that do.

Pohren agreed the mall’s condition has been bad for quite a while.

“The mall was in pretty bad shape when (the new owners) took over, so we have to allow them time to repair everything,” she said.

Major news expected

Denhartog said in a telephone interview last week that he could not speak to the condition of the mall, but he expects to announce some major news very soon.

Local officials believe the mall is still an attraction for Muscatine.

“I think it absolutely is, but it can be so very much more,” Carlson said. “I believe if the new ownership is successful in implementing their plan, the mall won’t only be healthy, it’ll be seen as a tremendous attribute to the Muscatine community.”

Although no immediate time table has been set for improvements, the new owners told the Journal last July that there are plans for redevelopment.

Similar challenges

The challenges facing the Muscatine Mall are similar to those once faced by the Sycamore Mall in Iowa City, which was resuscitated in the late 1990s.

“The Sycamore Mall faced the same situation,” said Jennifer Ross, a member of the Iowa City mall’s management team.

“I was here when the mall was doing well, then the opening of Coral Ridge Mall, compounded with some mall tenants retiring — it was one negative story after another,” Ross said.

Ross said the mall was purchased by a group of local investors, similar to the Muscatine Mall.

“They immediately launched a multi-million dollar renovation even before the vacancy issues were addressed. You are not going to get new business to take a look at a run-down center, or one whose looks are outdated,” Ross said.

The Sycamore Mall is now more than 95 percent occupied, and the reason it has become successful is because, Ross said, the owners cater to clients whose needs won’t be met as well at Coral Ridge.

“We are more upper-end retail. Our stores cater to the business woman, as well as children. You won’t find many teenagers or college students shopping at Sycamore,” she said.

The owners of the Sycamore Mall recently purchased the Old Capitol Town Center, which they are currently renovating.

The Old Capitol Town Center, formerly Old Capitol Mall, is located in downtown Iowa City, and caters to college-aged customers, Ross said.

“A very important aspect … is that these guys are very hands on,” she said of the Iowa City owners.

Carlson believes the Muscatine community can help the mall, too, by just considering shopping locally.

“See if the Muscatine store has what it is that you want when you want it,” he said. “If you can buy it locally, then that always makes sense.”

Contact Bryon Houlgrave at bryon.houlgrave@gmail.com