7 February 2024
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Towne West Square is again facing having its power turned off.
Evergy has confirmed that the property owner is again delinquent on paying the mall’s power bill. A disconnect notice was delivered on Tuesday. They issued the following statement to KSN:
Kohan Retail Investment Group has again fallen delinquent on the electricity bill for Towne West Mall and the electric service faces disconnection. The larger stores at the mall have separate accounts that remain in good standing and are not subject to disconnection.”
Gina Penzig, Director, Corporate Communications, Evergy
Dick’s Sporting Goods, the Dillard’s Outlet, and J.C. Penney’s are not affected by the disconnect notice. Calls to both the mall office and Kohan Retail Investment Group, the owner of the Towne West Mall property, went to voicemail. Messages were left asking for an official statement about the notice.
The disconnect notice is just the latest in issues for Towne West Mall going back to last year. In June of 2023, tenants of the mall were notified their power would be cut off for non-payment by the mall’s owner.
The bill, which hadn’t been paid since November 2022, was paid a few days later. However, that September, power was shut off for non-payment.
Power was restored several days later. Then in November 2023, it was turned off again.
In December, the City of Wichita turned off water service to three stores in the mall because Kohan Retail Investment Group hadn’t paid its bill. Last month, the website for Towne West, along with multiple other websites of malls owned by Kohan Retail Investment Group, was deactivated.
Towne West’s website has been restored. Although at least seven websites for malls owned by Kohan remain offline as of this writing.
A check of the county website also shows that the mall’s tax bill for the past three years remains unpaid.