File photo
File photo
HARLINGEN – The Valle Vista Mall has fallen behind in property taxes to the tune of $492,378, a report in the Valley Star said.
“We’re taking care of it,” Mike Kohan, the mall’s owner, told the newspaper.
Harlingen City Manager Dan Serna said the law firm Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson has been retained to collect the back taxes, more than $131,000 of which is owed to the city.
The report said the back taxes are for the 2019 tax year, according to the Cameron County Tax Office.
“There are some delinquent taxes owed by the mall,” Serna said. “Those taxes need to be paid. Tax attorneys are working with the property owner to have those collected.”
Kohan said he will work with city officials to improve the mall after federal, state and local officials lift a nationwide business shutdown in the wake of a COVID-19 virus pandemic.
“If we work together and try to understand each other I think we can pass that challenge,” Kohan said. “The burden is on all of us.”
The Valley Star report indicated that the mall has been struggling financially in recent years and lost some of its major anchor tenants. In 2017, Payless ShoeSource, Rue21 and RadioShack all closed. Forever 21, which opened in 2009, and replaced Mervyn's, also shut down business.
In 2018, Dillard’s, the mall’s flagship store, announced plans to serve as a clearance center. Sears then filed for bankruptcy, announcing it was closing its store. Sears was one of the mall’s original anchors in 1983 when the mall opened.
About 25 percent of the mall’s retail area stood vacant.
The mall was also hurt by the construction of the Expressway 77-83 interchange in 2002, which partially blocked traffic to the mall, causing shoppers instead to head to North Brownsville’s growing retail district.
The rise in online shopping dealt a further body blow.
The Valley Star report said that in 2008, the city offered the mall more than $1.2 million in incentives to help Simon Property Group, the management company that had brought the mall to town, to make improvements on the property.
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