Legislation that would have revoked the $16 million tax increment financing, or TIF, tax break the City Council approved for the developers of Laurel Mall last summer was put on hold by council members at the Feb. 22 meeting, for now.

As city officials continue to express dissatisfaction that renovation plans for the distressed mall are at a standstill, the mall's owners are promising to do some phased-in construction at the site, beginning with the shopping center's Route 1 parking lot.

Although the council delayed taking a vote on the legislation, they nevertheless gave the mall's developers a 90-day deadline to meet several conditions that address some of the concerns city officials have with the lack of activity on the proposed $450 million renovation of the ailing mall.

"I want them to meet twice a month with city staff to give us updates on their financial efforts, construction plans and permit applications," said City Council President Gayle Snyder. "I also want them to give us monthly reports because they have been giving us nothing."

Mayor Craig Moe let the mall's developers know that he expects tangible progress on the mall in the coming months and is still dissatisfied over how they have handled the project.

"I want to make it clear and blunt ... I'll keep the pressure up because we've spent lots of money in attorney fees and staff hours and I expect this to be a start to moving this thing forward," Moe said.

Moe and council members had criticized the mall's owners, Somera Capital Management and AEW Capital Management, for not communicating with the city on the status of the project, which is more than a year behind the construction schedule presented to the council when the renovation plans for the mall were approved.

Snyder said the TIF legislation will be revisited at the council's Sept. 13 meeting to determine what progress has or has not been made on the shopping center's facelift, which is supposed to include a 16-screen movie theater, sidewalk cafes, high-end retailers and upscale housing.

Mall officials blame tightened credit markets for their inability to secure financing to get the project going, but city officials are not pleased that in the meantime, the mall has continued to deteriorate with few tenants and shoppers.

"I don't want the mall to sit there dying," Snyder said.

Thomas Falatko, a Somera senior vice president, told the council, at a Feb. 16 work session, that no new tenants have been signed up in recent months, but they are continuing to solicit long-term leases with high-end retailers for when the renovations are completed and short-term tenants in the interim.

"I want the short-term leases to be of the highest quality. I can't dictate who should go in there, but I want clothing and toy stores like we had before," Snyder said.

Owners plan some quick fixes

But according to Falatko, the challenge is that winter months are not an active time for retail leasing. To meet some of city officials' concerns, he said, they have painted and installed new carpet and ceiling tiles in five vacant spaces at the mall, with three more slated for upgrades this week. Mall managers said they also plan to take down the black plastic that covers empty stores to improve the aesthetics at the mall.

"We are doing things so when the leasing market awakens, we'll be ready," Falatko said. "We've done a survey of the lighting and ordered $30,000 in materials to begin replacing the lights this week on the Fourth Street and Route 1 sides of the mall," to address another complaint of city officials.

Because so many spaces at the mall are vacant, Falatko said they have moved tenants, such as Brite Shoe Service, from the second floor of the mall to the first level, to concentrate the tenants so the shopping center seems active.

Additionally, to counter the pressure of losing the TIF -- which would allow the mall's developer to use 60 percent of future real estate taxes expected to be generated at the mall, once it's renovated, on public infrastructure improvements only--new plans are being drawn up to begin construction on the mall's Route 1 parking garage, which was scheduled for demolition early last year.

"We're looking at ways to take down the deck ... and a civil engineer is doing new renderings. We'll hire a local architect to improve the appearance for leasing purposes and for our current tenants," Falatko said. "This will help our financing efforts, and (potential) tenants like to see action. This phasing in will show activity at the site and create a buzz."

According to Falatko, some legal obligations with Burlington and Macy's will have to be worked out for construction of the parking lot to be approved. He said he expects the plans to be completed over the next 60 days. Snyder requested copies of those plans within 90 days, as a condition for delaying a vote on the TIF.

"We can't express the importance that something's happening at the mall," she said.

City officials remain cautious

Councilman Frederick Smalls, who has criticized mall developers also for not communicating better with city officials on the project, described the council's relationship with Somera and AEW as open-minded, but cautious.

"The mall is a very important project to the city, so we want to be mindful of that in anything we do so our seriousness about ... the mall and our understanding, up to a point, of the issues they're up against will be addressed," Smalls said. "As the mayor has said, the residents of the city deserve better as far as the mall is concerned."

Smalls also called on the mall's owners to communicate with residents so they will be better informed on the project.

"We'll leave it to Somera to decide how to do that, but regular information needs to be shared with the public," Smalls said.

As he has on other occasions, Falatko let the council know that he is as frustrated with the slowness of the project as they are, and agreed to work more closely with city officials.

"We're at the property on a weekly basis and we will send weekly e-mails, with bullet points on weekly progress," he said. "Also, as we paint and carpet the spaces, if there's a community need, we can offer them to the community to use."

He also said, after the meeting, that they are not planning to sell the mall, something the mayor said he hopes does not happen.

And even though Moe has said the fate of the TIF is in the hands of the council, he said he plans to "keep the pressure up to make sure they understand they need to move forward, because people are tired of waiting and so am I."

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