Clay, N.Y. — Tenants at the Great Northern Mall already have it tough. The mall closed a week ago because of the coronavirus outbreak. But now, their landlord is telling them they must continue making their rent payments even though their stores are shut down along with the mall.

In a letter to tenants this week, mall owner Mike Kohan said the pandemic “affecting the country and our premises does not excuse tenants’ obligations of payment of rent pursuant to the lease agreements.”

“The landlord is dependent on receipt of rent to satisfy its own obligations to local and governmental officials and its lenders,” Kohan said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Post-Standard | syracuse.com.

“Further, as you are aware, we must continue maintaining security, insurance and operations to ensure that once this crisis is over, our tenants are able to immediately re-open their premises and begin generating income. The rental income that we receive from our tenants is essential in order to meet our obligations.”

He said he understood the “difficult position" facing tenants but expects rents to be “timely paid.”

“We, as mall operator and landlord, intend to honor our obligations to you and we expect that you will honor yours,” he said. “Together we will get through this. We look forward to working with you in these difficult times and in the future.”

Reached by telephone Thursday, Kohan said it was too early to know how many of his tenants will make their April rent payments, with no revenue of their own coming in.

“We have taxes to pay, we have other stuff, we have employees, so basically it’s going to be really really hard,” he said. “So I don’t know. We’ll see.”

Great Northern Mall owner Mike Kohan has told retail tenants at the mall that they must continue to pay rent even though the mall is shut down because of the coronavirus outbreak. Rick Moriarty | rmoriarty@syracuse.com

He said tenants’ leases do not relieve them from their obligations to pay rent if the mall is closed because of a pandemic. However, he said he is alerting tenants that the $2.2 trillion economic relief legislation that President Donald Trump signed into law March 27 authorizes the Small Business Administration to issue emergency loans to small businesses whose finances have been hurt by the coronavirus outbreak.

The loans can be used to pay rent, electric bills and other expenses, he said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered all malls in New York to close March 18 as part of the state’s efforts to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, the respiratory disease that has already killed 2,373 people in the state.

The pandemic has made an already bad situation worse for the Great Northern Mall, which, like many malls, has struggled for years against the onslaught of online retailing. It had nearly 100 stores and restaurants when it opened on Route 31 near Interstate 481 in 1988, but it has just 38 tenants now, including a number of non-retail businesses to help fill the space.

Kohan, a real estate investor from Long Island, bought Great Northern in 2017 for $8.5 million.

Great Northern is not alone in requiring its tenants to keep paying their rent during shutdowns. Taubman Centers, one of the nation’s largest mall owners, instructed its tenants March 27 to keep making their rent payments even though its malls are closed.

“Landlord’s obligation to pay its lenders, utility companies, insurance companies and the like, to ensure the safety and security of the building and maintain the appropriate level of operations, remains,” Taubman told tenants in a letter, according to USA Today.

Officials at Destiny USA in Syracuse did not respond to inquiries from The Post-Standard | syracuse.com about whether it is requiring tenants to keep paying rent during the shutdown. With more than 250 stores, restaurants and entertainment venues, Destiny is the largest mall in New York and the sixth largest in the nation.

Destiny USA in Syracuse, the largest mall in New York and sixth largest in the U.S., is a lonely place after Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered all malls in the state to close because of the spreading coronavirus pandemic. Rick Moriarty | rmoriarty@syracuse.com

Shawl Pryor Sr., chief operating officer of Moonbeam Leasing and Management, operator of ShoppingTown Mall in DeWitt, said tenants’ obligation to keep paying rent during the mall’s shutdown depends on their individual lease agreements.

“We’re dealing with that situation on a case by case basis," he said. “As of right now, that’s the policy that we’ve taken.”

ShoppingTown filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of U.S. Bankruptcy Law in August 2019. Only 47 of its 191 stores are occupied, according to a recent bankruptcy court filing.

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Rick Moriarty covers business news and consumer issues. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact him anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148