a commercial structure (I believe Quandt's Foods) of some kind.
It was actually Orlev Provisions.
We are advised NOT to judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works.
and the old gas station where between staples and Arrons are
and an old diner where sears sits
and this is the best reason that assessments should be adjusted every 6 years on every property so you don't suddenly lose 2/3 of the value on any property - fools
ROTTERDAM Mall sale could prove costly to town $8.5 million price less than a third of assessed value BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Rotterdam Square mall was sold to a private retail company last week for $8.5 million — less than a third of the mall’s assessed value. The deal, confirmed by new owner Mike Kohan of the Kohan Retail Investment Group, was closed last week. The sale price could have a significant impact on the mall’s assessed value of $30 million, meaning the property could be generating far less tax revenue than it has in the recent past. Macerich Co., the mall’s former owner, paid about $1.12 million annually in taxes to various municipal entities, the bulk of which went to the town of Rotterdam, Schenectady County and the Schalmont Central School District. Though the sale won’t have an immediate impact on the property assessment, Kohan could use the price he paid for the mall — the third most valuable property in the town — in asking for a reduction in its value. “That’s on the horizon,” town Supervisor Harry Buffardi said. “It’s looming heavily.” The mall’s fiscal impact on town services is significant. County records show Rotterdam Square contributed $62,000 to the town’s highway fund last year, or roughly 1.7 percent of the $3.6 million raised in taxes. The mall also pays a sizable amount of taxes to a pair of local fire districts. South Schenectady collected $24,777 in taxes from Rotterdam Square, while Schonowe received $9,830. If the mall’s assessment dips substantially, taxing entities would consequently see a noticeable drop in revenue. And that could spell problems, especially with the school, town and county striving to stay beneath the state-imposed tax cap. Schalmont started setting funds aside to help mitigate a drop in the mall’s value after Macerich challenged its 2012 assessment. Joe Lenz, the district’s business administrator, said the impact of the low sale price remains to be seen. “We’ll have to see what comes of it and plan accordingly,” he said. Buffardi has a meeting scheduled with Schalmont Superintendent Carol Pallas to discuss the tax impact of the sale. The deal was apparently at arms length, meaning Macerich sold for less than it was worth — something that could factor into future assessment challenges. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see,” Buffardi said. Macerich Co., a publicly traded retail management company, fi led lawsuits challenging its assessment in 2012 and 2013. The Santa Monica, Calif., company argued Rotterdam Square was only worth $20 million. “That’s seeming like a good deal now,” Buffardi said. A spokeswoman for Macerich did not return a call for comment Tuesday. Rotterdam Square comprises 463,987 square feet of retail space and about 70 acres of land. The sprawling structure on Campbell Road includes a food court, restaurant, movie theater, three anchor stores and more than 50 retailers. Built in 1988, the mall’s three anchor stores are Macy’s, Kmart and Sears. Sears recently renewed its lease for five years ending in 2018. Macy’s owns its 120,000-squarefoot store and the seven acres of land on which it sits. Other major tenants include Gap, TJ Maxx, Shoe Department Encore, American Eagle Outfitters and Victoria’s Secret. The mall also has a long-term lease with Rotterdam Square Cinema, the seven-screen theater that completed $500,000 worth of renovations in 2010. Macerich acquired Rotterdam Square eight years ago in its $2.3 billion purchase of the mall’s Rochester parent company, Wilmorite Inc. The buyout also included 11 regional malls, including Wilton Mall outside Saratoga Springs, and two open-air shopping centers. Rotterdam Square hasn’t performed well since the sale. Though it has fluctuated in recent years, the mall’s occupancy rate has routinely been lower than others in Macerich’s portfolio. Macerich claimed Rotterdam Square had an occupancy of 86.1 percent in advertisements for the property, but filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission placed the mall’s occupancy at 79.8 percent at the end of September. Rotterdam Square’s retail space was also valued significantly lower than other similar malls in Macerich’s portfolio. Rotterdam Square was leasing space at $234 per square foot during the third quarter of 2013 — about $66 less than the Wilton Mall 35 miles away in Saratoga County. Rotterdam Square also has the disadvantage of having two anchors — Sears and Kmart — with a parent company that has run into financial trouble. Sears Holdings, which also owns Kmart, has posted six consecutive years of declining revenues and has recently been selling off assets. The mall was slated for an online auction in December with a starting bid of $2 million, but the auction was called off just days before it was scheduled.
hold on to you money rotterdam residents Taxes Taxes Taxes on the rise - your gonna be stuck in that house a lot longer too - no one wants to live in rotterderdam - nothing here, sh*t hole - taxes continue to go up -
Rotterdam mall’s new owner has history of legal battles Posted on January 22, 2014 | By Tim O'Brien
Rotterdam Square Mall is now in the hands of a new owner with a history of controversy and legal trouble at some of his other properties.
Mehran Kohansiek — who goes by the name Mike Kohan — purchased the mall for $8.5 million from the Macerich Corporation on January 15. His firm, Kohan Retail Investment Group, has received a temporary loan from Emerald Creek Capital in New York City to make the purchase but plans to seek longer-term financing.
“We’re trying to revitalize it by bringing in more tenants,” he said. “We are looking for anchor tenants, national tenants and local tenants to fill those vacant spaces. We need the community to help us, to shop at the mall.”
Kohan’s name comes up repeatedly across the country for issues with malls he owns. He has been taken to court, accused of failing to take care of his properties. More than one community has sought to knock down his malls.
“We buy distressed malls so these are the kinds of challenges we face,” he said.
One property, Lincoln Mall in Matteson, Ill. has been the subject of a tense legal battle. Look up the village’s website, and the first thing you see is a photo and the headline “Click here regularly for news concerning Lincoln Mall.”
The link details the village’s long-running legal battle with Kohan. Village officials tried to get the mall shuttered over dozens of safety violations. Instead, a court placed the mall under a receiver. Kohan was ordered to put up $100,000 for repairs, then another $100,000. When he initially did not pay the second sum, the village went back to court. The case was settled January 9 when Kohan agreed to put up half the money now and the other half by February 10.
He describes himself as caught in the middle of litigation with the developer.
“I am buying distressed malls, malls that have litigation, malls are in bad shape,” he said. “There are some projects we can turn around. Some we can’t.”
The Woodville Mall in Northwood, Ohio is due to be demolished. In August, the Court of Common Pleas ruled no action was taken on an earlier order permanently closing the mall until multiple violations were fixed.
“The structures have fallen into a greater state of disrepair, including but not limited to, leaking ceilings that are open to the elements, black mold throughout the structures, standing water throughout the structures, crumbling asphalt, no utilities, failure to provide storm water drainage, failure to provide fire suppression, etc.,” the court wrote in its order to demolish the mall.
The court also ordered the mall’s owners, including Kohan, to pay $1.69 million to the city of Northwood.
In Worthington, Minnesota, Kohan was reported to owe back taxes on the Northland Mall, where a former Kmart store was declared hazardous by the city. A warrant was issued for his arrest but had no weight outside the area, TV station KWOA reported in September.
Late last year, the city got a court order to enable it to evaluate the overall condition of the building and make plans to deal with it.
“He has not been responsive in submitting a plan to address the issue,” city administrator Craig Clark told the Times Union.
Kohan said the Kmart already was vacant when he bought the Northland Mall.
It would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring it up to code, he said, which did not make sense without a tenant. He said he is trying to sell that mall.
In Effingham, Illinois, an overdue electricity bill prompted a threat in 2012 to turn off power to the Kohan-owned Village Square Mall. He cites that as a property he has been able to turn around.
Another mall he owned, Jamestown Mall, in Florrisant, Missouri, had its heat shut off in 2012 for failure to pay its bill, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. The heat was later restored.
Kohan said this is all a result of the fact that he buys distressed malls with maintenance and other problems, but he says Rotterdam Square is in much better shape.
“The Rotterdam Mall happens to be a more stabilized mall. It is 86 percent occupied,” Kohan said. “It’s definite there is room for improvement. It needs work. There are challenges in malls, and we are ready to face them but it is a good mall.”
Yes - but did Quandt's buy them out? I believe that there was some connection between the two.
George Amedore & Christian Klueg for NYS Senate 2016 Pete Vroman for State Assembly 2016[/size][/color]
"For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground." Lyndon Baines Johnson
Yes - but did Quandt's buy them out? I believe that there was some connection between the two.
Quandts HISTORY
Quoted Text
In 1918 the Quandt name stood for a quality fish market in Amsterdam, NY. Mr. Quandt developed a thriving business by assembling a renowned selection of the freshest fish available. Mr. Quandt’s son, Joseph F. Quandt, came into the business, and by 1944, the business had become so successful that the family added a frozen food locker plant. By the early 1950’s the Quandt family operation had expanded to a full-fledged supermarket.
In 1958 the family transitioned its focus to keep up with industry demands into becoming a wholesale distributor. The company quickly outgrew its 20 Guy Park Avenue location and opened a new facility at 105 Quist Road (current location.) In 1999, we added on 30,000 square feet of freezer and cooler space to our facility on Quist Road to accommodate our rapidly growing customer base.
JUST BECAUSE SISSY SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO...BUT HE THINKS IT DOES!!!!! JUST BECAUSE MC1 SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO!!!!!
AMSTERDAM : Quandt’s sold, local facility to close Family-owned business nearly century old
Quoted Text
A nearly century-old, familyowned business in Amsterdam will close its doors in the coming months. Quandt’s Foodservice Distribution, based out of a facility on Quist Road in Amsterdam, was bought out by US Foods, a national food distribution company, US Foods said in a statement Friday.
Daily Gazette
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Yes - but did Quandt's buy them out? I believe that there was some connection between the two.
I worked for them for years, there was never a relation to Quandt's that I know of. Sorry.
They, before this location, were at 402 Schenectady St.
We are advised NOT to judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works.
ROTTERDAM DEC releases $2.9M mall bond after 25 years BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
For decades, the state Department of Environmental Conservation hung onto a $2.9 million bond originally put up by Wilmorite Co. when the Rotterdam Square mall was constructed. The “construction” bond was part of six pages of conditions the agency imposed on Wilmorite before the company was allowed to proceed with the massive project centered in a wetland near a sensitive recharge area of the Great Flats Aquifer. The bond was to ensure the developer properly constructed embankments, a new channel for 2,270 feet of the Poentic Kill, an impoundment structure and other facilities associated with protecting the county’s drinking water supply. The mall opened for business in 1988, but Wilmorite never received back the bond. DEC continued holding the money even after Wilmorite’s holdings were absorbed by Macerich Co., the Santa Monica, Calif. company that acquired Rotterdam Square as part of a $2.3 billion multi- property deal in 2004. Then last week, DEC quietly released the construction bond. The money was part of what was holding up a deal Macerich had in place to sell Rotterdam Square to Mike Kohan of Kohan Retail Investment Group. The DEC did require Kohan’s company to put up a “maintenance” bond of $150,000 to help mitigate any failure of the mall’s extensive wetland and flood control system. This is an increase of $25,000 from a similar bond in place when Macerich owned the property. The release of the larger bond has stirred concern among some environmentalists and mall critics who fear DEC has eliminated a large pot of money that could have been tapped if the mall contaminates the underlying aquifer — a massive 14-mile-long, 45,000-acre watershed serving as the sole source of Schenectady County’s drinking water. Aaron Mair, a member of the Sierra Club’s national board of directors, said the release of the bond money is cause for great concern. He was never convinced the protections incorporated by Wilmorite functioned properly. “If anything, it takes a very lousy situation and makes it even worse,” he said. “They at least had money out there to mitigate any failure. Now they’re taking that away.” Rotterdam Square’s construction filled in roughly 21 acres of freshwater wetlands bisected by the Poentic Kill. To relocate the creek, Wilmorite had to construct 3,650 feet of new channel, which now runs around the mall’s periphery. Wilmorite built a flood control gate near the Sears anchor store and a detention area in a fl oodplain outside the mall. The system also includes an alarm inside the mall that indicates when the gates need to be operated. The system was intended to prevent flooding of neighboring areas, since there are wetlands surrounding the site. Also, it was to ensure that construction and fill on the site did not result in additional fl ooding. Once construction was complete and approved, DEC offi cials said there was no reason to maintain the bond, but it remained in place for 35 years after the mall’s completion because Wilmorite — and subsequently Macerich — never requested its release. The health of the aquifer has been a concern since plans for the mall were first pitched. Many feared the sprawling impermeable surface would allow contaminated runoff fl owing from its parking lots and industrial areas to the east to flow freely into the recharge area by what is now the Great Flats Nature Preserve.
I worked for them for years, there was never a relation to Quandt's that I know of. Sorry.
They, before this location, were at 402 Schenectady St.
My mistake then -- thanks for the clarification. Anyway, the original point that I was making was that the small cemetery located at the mall was just a family burial ground on what was originally a farm and not a full scale cemetery.
George Amedore & Christian Klueg for NYS Senate 2016 Pete Vroman for State Assembly 2016[/size][/color]
"For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground." Lyndon Baines Johnson
TJ Maxx closes Rotterdam Square mall store Retailer has new location in Johsntown Tuesday, March 25, 2014 By Justin Mason (Contact) Gazette Reporter Text Size: A | A
ROTTERDAM — Rotterdam Square mall has lost one of its major tenants.
TJ Maxx shut down its storefront in the mall earlier this month after opening a new location in the Fulton County city of Johnstown. The retailer is occupying space recently built in a shopping plaza on Route 30A about 30 miles away from Rotterdam Square.
Though not technically an anchor of the mall, TJ Maxx was one of its largest tenants. The Massachusetts-based retailer occupied a large portion of the wing leading to Sears.
TJ Maxx closed operations in the mall at the beginning of March. The location in the Johnstown Shopping Center includes a storefront and 23,000 square feet of space.
“Our new store in Johnstown will deliver value and an exciting selection of fashion to serve the needs of customers,” TJ Maxx President Richard Sherr said in a statement released before the location’s grand opening March 6.
Plans for the Johnstown TJ Maxx were unveiled to city planners roughly two years ago. At the time, however, the company didn’t indicate any intention of closing the Rotterdam store.
The latest vacancy adds to more than two dozen that previously existed at Rotterdam Square, which has struggled with occupancy problems for several years. A mall representative could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
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