BOARDMAN TWP., Ohio - After three failed attempts to pay their overdue property taxes, Kohan Retail Investment Group has missed another deadline, leaving them with $948,118.84 in unpaid taxes at the Southern Park Mall in Boardman.

A 21 News investigation shows this is just a piece of what Kohan owes on its properties across the country. According to public records and public officials, the group owes property taxes on more than half of its properties across the U.S. — at least 17 out of 28:

  • Livingston Mall (Livingston, NJ): $3,985,771.06
  • Southern Park Mall (Boardman, OH): $948,118.84 (plus interest)
  • 345 Seventh Ave. (New York, NY): $708,982.52
  • Greenwood Mall (Bowling Green, KY): $606,484.19
  • Southern Hills Mall (Sioux City, IA): $593,716.00
  • Rim Rock Mall (Billings, MT): $580,702.21
  • Morgantown Mall (Morgantown, WV): $425,163.08
  • The Westwood Mall (Marquette, MI): $316,109.09
  • Fairlane Town Center (Dearborn, MI): $122,249.92
  • Holiday Village Mall (Havre, MT): $114,818.38
  • Golden East Crossing (Rocky Mount, NC): $113,218.93
  • New Towne Mall (New Philadelphia, OH): $85,671.23 + $1,200 special assessment
  • Vicksburg Mall (Vicksburg, MI): $73,409.85
  • Jasper Mall (Jasper, AL): $41,384.80
  • Washington Crown Center (Washington, PA): $30,225 for 2024 taxes
  • Southpark Mall, (Moline, IL): $26,000.76
  • The Mall At Robinson (Pittsburgh, PA): $8,488.83

The total amount owed is at least $8,781,714.69. 

Dan Yemma, the Mahoning County treasurer, said Kohan’s record of not paying its property taxes is “certainly not what we want to hear” and “doesn’t bode well” — especially because the group has not had much communication with the treasurer’s office.

“The method in which they seem to handle these things is not good,” Yemma said. “It doesn't give you a good feeling.”

21 News has reached out to owner Michael Kohan for comment on this story and has not heard back. 

The group owes almost $4 million at its Livingston Mall location in New Jersey, by far the most of any singular property. Barry Lewis, Jr., the Livingston Township Manager, told 21 News there “hasn’t been one positive thing about the entire experience” since Kohan took over in 2022. 

“Not only are they not paying their bills, it's becoming so run down,” Lewis said. In an interview with 21 News, he described a property with high vacancies, outstanding code violations and frequent power outages due to unpaid electric bills.

Lewis said the Livingston Mall property almost went to a tax sale last year, but Kohan's lender stepped in a week before and paid just enough to avoid it. The township deemed the mall an “area in need of redevelopment” in October 2024, which Lewis said gives the township the power of eminent domain.

“We know that there's developers looking to buy it from them, and obviously we would prefer that path, if somebody could buy it out from them and work with us on a plan,” Lewis said. “But worst case scenario, we file for condemnation, and we condemn it and take it and then sell it to somebody who will redevelop it, because we can't just sit by forever like this.”

A retail analyst told 21 News this approach by Kohan is a purposeful strategy — and it's profitable. 

“In a capitalist society, people find ways to make money even when there's distress, and that's essentially what they've done,” Nick Egelanian, the founder and president of the retail real estate consulting firm SiteWorks, said.

According to Egelanian, groups like Kohan purchase a mall for a low price, usually a mall that “just can’t be saved.”

From there, “they have a very standard playbook: Cut the taxes, cut the operating expenses, don't invest in it, simply harvest the remaining yield, meaning the remaining rent that the tenants that are in it are going to pay,” he said. 

Egelanian told 21 News this strategy can yield returns from 15-30%.

“The worst thing a community can do is throw money at it to try to make them happy,” Egelanian said. “They're not going to invest in it ever. That's not what they're doing. It's best, in some ways, to embrace what they're doing and start to look at what the next generation of that land use could be.”

Mahoning County cannot take any action regarding the Southern Park Mall property taxes until four payments — two years’ worth — are missed, according to Yemma, who said the county would prefer to work with Kohan towards a cooperative solution. But he said that would require communication, which so far has been sparse.

“The Mahoning County treasurer does not want to own the Southern Park Mall,” Yemma said. “We would certainly want to work with them, but that's a two-way street, you know, they need to work with us. That hasn't been the case so far.”

“Property taxes do fund some very important services throughout the county, and an entity like the Southern Park Mall is a big part of that,” he added. “If they don't eventually accept their responsibility, it could cause problems for the county, and especially for Boardman Township.”