The lawsuits against the Bangor Mall owner are only the most recent legal troubles the company faces as it is accused of letting other properties crumble into disrepair.
Bangor has filed two lawsuits against the mall’s owner this year, accusing it of code violations including a leaking roof, large potholes and a dilapidated sign. Most recently, a second lawsuit filed Dec. 13 accused the mall of spilling sewage into a nearby stream.
City officials hope the lawsuits will force owner Namdar Realty Group to acknowledge the problems and identify a path to improvement.
Bangor is not alone. Lawsuits for code violations and condemnation, liens for failure to pay and eminent domain proceedings against Namdar Realty Group or companies under it have been filed in Pennsylvania and in Illinois. The accusations from those lawsuits paint a picture of a company that rarely — if ever — takes action when tenants and communities raise complaints of potholes, leaking roofs and sinkholes.
Namdar Realty Group was founded by Igal Namdar in 1999 when he bought a property on Long Island, New York, according to its website. It’s one of the 10 largest retail landlords in the country, with 375 properties across 37 states.
Namdar had a net worth of $2 billion in 2021, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The company is known for buying properties for significantly less than they’re worth. It purchased the Bangor Mall for $12.6 million in 2019, which was about half of the city’s assessed value of $24.7 million. More recently, Namdar Realty Group bought a building in New York City in June for $40.5 million, a fraction of the $153 million it sold for in 2018, The Real Deal reported.
“They’ve been a bottom feeder, historically, buying on the cheap, for pennies on the dollar and making a go of it,” Jim Costello, then the senior vice-president at Real Capital Analytics Inc., said of Namdar Realty Group in a 2021 interview with Bloomberg News.
Namdar and business partner Elliot Nassim told Bloomberg they charge affordable rent to bring in businesses such as Claire’s, a jewelry store, and Lids, a hat store. About half of the storefronts at the Bangor Mall were empty this fall and multiple Namdar Realty Group-owned malls across Pennsylvania have the same issue, according to TribLive.
The Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills in Frazer Township, Pennsylvania, a rural community of 1,100 people roughly 20 miles north of Pittsburgh, was bought by Namdar Realty Group about 10 years ago, Lori Ziencik, a township supervisor, said.
What Namdar Realty Group did to the township’s mall and others around the country is “despicable,” Ziencik said.
The private road that surrounds the mall and provides access to other businesses needs $4.5 million in repairs, which Namdar Realty Group is not performing as required, according to a lawsuit filed by Frazer Township. That price doesn’t include repairs to the mall’s parking lots.
“I don’t care if the whole building falls in, but we care about the surrounding roads,” Ziencik said.
Namdar Realty Group bought the mall sight unseen and Ziencik said she doesn’t think the company did enough due diligence to know it would be responsible for the private roads around the mall.
There have been multiple owners since the mall opened in 2005, but Namdar Realty Group is by far the worst owner Ziencik has dealt with, she said. The township rents office space in the mall and for small maintenance issues, she communicates with an on-site worker. The township hasn’t encountered any problems with the space that would require speaking to someone in Namdar Realty Group’s corporate office.
“They’re an absentee landlord to the max,” Ziencik said. “I have never met them to this day.”
Namdar Realty Group’s goal is to add value to properties and remedy maintenance issues the company learns about, spokesperson Lilly Tedrick said in a written statement when asked how the company decides which properties to buy and its philosophy on reinvesting in properties.
“We maintain consistent, open lines of communication with each of our property managers to ensure proactive maintenance,” Tedrick said. “This includes regular assessments to identify areas requiring upgrades or improvements.”
Namdar Realty Group buys properties in well-located shopping areas and the company has “the experience and capabilities to bring those properties into the next phase of their lifecycle,” Tedrick added.
A large sinkhole opened up last December at the Nittany Mall near a major road in College Township, Pennsylvania. When the township told Namdar Realty Group it would make repairs to the sinkhole after no progress had been made, the group sued the township, alleging it had no legal basis for fixing the hole.
A month later Namdar Realty Group dropped the lawsuit and its request for a judge to stop the township from making the repairs.
The township repaired the hole for about $150,000, Assistant Township Manager Mike Bloom said. Namdar Realty Group hasn’t paid the township and if settlement talks aren’t resolved by the end of the year, the township will file a lien against the mall to recoup costs, Bloom said.
The mall is mostly empty, Bloom said. JCPenney left the mall in 2016 and other anchor stores have changed.
The sinkhole was the biggest public safety threat on the mall’s property but Bloom said the township is aware of other problems, such as a leaking roof.
“It’s just been a slow decline of the property,” Bloom said.
In Jacksonville, Florida, Namdar Realty Group has racked up more than $1.66 million in code violations since February 2022 for ceiling leaks, holes, cracks, floor damage and exposed wiring at the Regency Square Mall. Mall tenants have previously filed lawsuits against Namdar Realty Group, saying the leaking roof and lack of air conditioning have harmed their businesses.
Some communities, however, are hoping for major change as Namdar Realty Group is selling its properties.
The Regency Square Mall is in the process of being bought by Florida-based Blackwater Development LLC with the sale expected to be completed in 2025, the Jacksonville Daily Record reported. The new company has plans to demolish parts of the building, if the city approves, and its president has expressed interest in redeveloping the area with multifamily housing, retail and entertainment venues.
A sale of the Enfield Square Mall in Connecticut, another Namdar Realty Group-owned property, is also in the works. The new owners want to turn it into a mixed use development, with housing, retail and hotels, CT Insider reported.
Bangor is hoping for something similar to someday come to the Bangor Mall. The city rezoned the mall area in 2022 for a future that allows housing and retail, and city councilors set redeveloping the area as one of their primary goals for 2025. The city wants to see the area prosper, said Anne Krieg, Bangor’s economic development director.
Namdar Realty Group selling the mall in Frazer Township would be a relief, Ziencik said. There isn’t anything the township can do to force that future though.
“They just need to sell the place,” she said. “I’m convinced they are not going to sell until they’ve drained every last penny they can get out of the property. “
