WYOMISSING, Pa.- More mall woes as the Berkshire mall could be in danger of shutting down if needed HVAC repairs aren’t made right away.
The borough put the mall on notice saying it’s unsafe until things are taken care of.
“I found a note on the gate, and I found a notice of violations underneath my thing,” says Carolyn Rivera, owner of M&D Books at the Berkshire Mall. “At that time, I was really concerned.”
Rivera says, according to paperwork she got from the borough of Wyomissing, if needed repairs aren’t made at the mall by noon on Friday there will be a notice to vacate.
“They have been ordered by borough code enforcement folks to make repairs,” says Wyomissing Mayor Fred Levering. “There are multiple HVAC systems throughout, it’s not just one that does the whole thing. So, a couple of them aren’t working and need to be repaired.”
Levering says according to the borough’s code enforcement it’s a safety issue. He says if the repairs aren’t done, the borough council will vote whether to move forward with legal proceedings. And if a court order is put in place, the mall would be shut down until the repairs are made.
“It’s disruptive, it’s a shame, shouldn’t have come to this,” says Levering.
According to a representative for the mall, as of Thursday most of the breaks have been isolated or repaired and officials are obtaining quotes for the inoperable HVAC system to avoid a shutdown.
For Rivera, it just seems like another headache. With mall demolition looming in the future, if a sale goes through, she may eventually have to relocate, and this puts her in a bind in the short term as well.
“It’s a great weekend! It’s a holiday weekend and I have several local authors coming such as Friday night and Saturday and Sunday all day and do I cancel, do I not,” says Rivera. “This is on everybody’s thoughts.”
The shutdown, if it does happen, would not affect Boscov’s which we are told has its own HVAC system which is in good working order.