BOARDMAN, Ohio – Vincent Tyler knew something was amiss Oct. 29 when he was alerted by a staff member that their direct deposit pay had not shown up as scheduled in their bank account.
At first, Tyler, then the general manager of Southern Park Mall, thought it might be an administrative error, since the staff member’s deposits normally activated one or two days before the actual pay date. By the end of the week, he thought, the employee’s pay would be there.
However, none of the staff – including Tyler – had been paid by the close of business Friday.
“That was my wake-up call,” Tyler said.
On early Friday morning, Oct. 31, Tyler dashed off an email to the mall’s ownership, New York-based Kohan Retail Investment Group, demanding that the staff be paid, or he would not call them into work Monday morning. “I told them that I can’t make the staff work according to the law,” he recalled.
When payment was not made, Tyler then made the decision to close the facility the following Monday, since some of the staff included security.
“It was reported that security walked off the job – they would never do that,” he said. “The staff here is loyal, and they would have come in. They would have worked.”
The general manager told them not to report to work until he could secure a promise of payment from the owners. “The fact that they didn’t come in was my choice,” Tyler said.
Customers were baffled that Monday morning when signs posted at the front entrance declared simply “We are closed.”
By 12:30 p.m. Nov. 3, Tyler received a written promise from Michael Kohan, principal at Kohan Retail Investment, that the employees would be paid, which he thought sufficient to call them into work and to reopen the mall. “On that promise, I got enough staff to come in and open the center,” he said.
The employees were paid that evening. The company attributed the error to a “glitch,” Tyler said.
By this time, however, Tyler said he’d had enough and turned in his resignation that day after six years at the mall. His last day was Nov. 14, and he confirmed employees were paid as scheduled that day.
The payroll incident, Tyler said, was the culmination of a host of other frustrations that he said led to his resignation. “It’s a culture of chaos,” he said of the ownership structure. “You don’t know who to ask. You don’t know who to get an answer from.”
He emphasized that the staff at the mall are hard-working, loyal employees, some of whom have been there 30 years. “They deserve better than this,” he said.
Moreover, Tyler said the mall has also struggled to keep up with utility bills and honor vendor contracts, while requests for improvements were regularly ignored. “Nearly all payments in the last 60 days have been returned for insufficient funds,” he said Nov. 11. In other instances, tenants in the mall have received demands for 30-day late payments, when in fact their checks were paid on time but were simply left uncashed by the company, he said.
Tyler believes that most at Kohan are doing their best to manage these situations, but the company’s culture has not lent itself to doing what is best for the mall, its employees, tenants or service providers.
“The Southern Park Mall is a strong mall, and it’s profitable,” Tyler said, noting it’s 95% filled. Approximately 2,600 are employed throughout the various retail stores in the complex. He estimates the mall contributes to approximately $53 million in economic impact across the Mahoning Valley.
Attempts to reach Michael Kohan for comment were unsuccessful. A call to his cellphone was prompted directly to voicemail with an announcement that the mailbox was full. A follow-up text requesting comment went unanswered.
Property Taxes
Kohan Retail has systematically failed to communicate with Boardman Township officials or Mahoning County regarding the mall’s status, officials have said. In April, The Business Journal first reported that the company had missed its first-half property tax payments, resulting in a 10% penalty for the period.
As of Nov. 20, Kohan owes a total of $919,451 in property taxes on the prime parcel where the mall is located, 7401 Market St., according to the Mahoning County Auditor’s Office. First-half taxes of $437,834.11 remain unpaid, and the company has accrued $85,322.57 in interest and penalties, records show.
Kohan also owes first-half and second-half taxes on five additional properties around the mall totaling another $80,045, according to the auditor’s office. Data also show that Kohan made a payment of $43,433.23 to cover its first-half taxes on another parcel at 7401 Market and owes another $43,433.23 for the second half.
Second-half payments are scheduled for March, said Daniel Yemma, Mahoning County treasurer. Any unpaid taxes, however, will be certified delinquent as of Dec. 31, he noted.
Kohan Retail Investment Group purchased the mall in December 2024 for $24.1 million, according to auditor’s records.
Yemma said Kohan attempted to make payments three different times, only to have those payments rejected because of insufficient funds.
“I haven’t heard a thing from them,” Yemma said. “Before, they were sending us bad checks. Now, they’re not sending us anything.” After the third failed Kohan payment, the county treasurer’s office attempted to contact the company but never received a response.
Yemma said that as of now, the county’s hands are tied in the matter. “They have to be two years delinquent before we could initiate any legal action,” he said.
Meanwhile, Boardman Township officials have not received any update from the mall’s owners but are considering options to assist the complex.
“We are looking at avenues to help with the Southern Park Mall, but there is nothing official to disclose at this point,” said Steve Yacavone, township trustee.
The mall’s former general manager stressed that there are “great people” who work for Kohan, and he initially had a positive opinion of the company. “If you were to come to me in March, I’d have been like, ‘It’s a great company,’” Tyler said.
However, red flags began to fly after the first missed tax payment, an issue that Tyler said he never had with the mall’s previous owner, Washington Prime Group.
“People deserve to be treated with respect, whether you’re an employee, a tenant, a vendor, or a customer,” he said. “I think people should know that the mall could be better; it could be managed better; and that there are good people there who deserve better.”