SANTA MARIA - It's been rumored about in town for months but now Central Coast News can report the Santa Maria Town Center Mall has new owners.
Sources tell Central Coast News the sale was completed only recently and details about the new owners and other terms of the deal are expected to be released in the coming days.
The seller is a business partnership headed by Greg Kozak which has run the mall for the past several years.
Kozak and his group tried unsuccessfully to complete an eagerly anticipated renovation of the mall including a multi-screen movie theater complex in the space where the former Gottschalks department store stood.
Its unclear if those projects will now move forward with the sale.
Mall customers Central Coast News spoke with Friday afternoon are anxious to see improvement in the overall shopping experience.
"The clothing for females, senior citizen females, there is none", says one regular customer, "I really would like to see more stores, when Gottschalks left it really took all of my shopping area away."
"Better stores, with better clothes", adds another, younger shopping, "more like Macy's and Forever 21, stores that aren't in this area that would be in this mall would be a lot better."
Like most other shopping malls on the Central Coast, the Santa Maria Town Center has struggled to retain tenants and increase foot traffic and visitor numbers amid the tough economic times.
The main retail anchor tenants at the Town Center Mall remain Macy's and Sears.
The Town Center Mall sits in the heart of what Santa Maria City Planners call the "Downtown Specific Plan", which is a long-term urban plan to revitalized the downtown area and make it more pedestrian friendly.
