Boscov CEO looks forward to working with new owner of Colonial Park Shopping Center

Jim Boscov, CEO Boscova says he didn’t have a chance to talk to new owner Colonial Park Mall, but he repeated the same message in an interview Thursday that he gave to his employees last year at the Johnstown Road store.

“I know we continue to do well no matter what happens because we have very loyal customers and very loyal colleagues,” he said.

Boscov declined to comment on the situation. sale of shopping center as he has not yet spoken to the new owner, although he hopes to do so.

“I’m looking forward to working with the owner of the mall and seeing what we can do to make life better for everyone,” he said.

Last April, as Colonial Park Mall in Lower Paxton Township fell into disrepair, questions began to arise about the future of Boscov’s store at the mall. But Boscov made a special visit to the store to ease store employees’ concerns, assuring them that the store was here to stay.

“We’re going to be here for the next 100 years,” he told employees at the time.

Boscov’s owns a store in Colonial Park Shopping Center.

At the time, Maryland-based Stonewall Capital agreed to buy the mall and redevelop it. But later this company withdrew from the deal for unknown reasons.

The mall suffered financially and escaped financial crisis last July. sheriff’s last-minute sale after Kohan Retail paid the invoice for $319,539.06. to the Lower Paxton Township Office just 25 minutes before the deadline.

Earlier this summer, it looked like the mall would be auctioned off, but the day before the event, the listing was abruptly withdrawn.

Last month, the 64-year-old Colonial Park Mall was purchased 4600 Jonestown Road LLC, a Pennsylvania limited liability company owned by Kohan Retail Investment Group, for $8.8 million, according to Dauphin County property records. The company lists its owner as Zi Qian Zhang of Fall River, Massachusetts. Zhang, owner of JZ Real Estate, has been in the real estate business for more than three decades. according to his company’s website.

The sale includes the mall’s main building, but not the Boscov building, the former Sears building and five other buildings on property not owned by Kohan Retail.

Zhang’s lawyer, Thomas Ryan of Danbury, Conn., previously told PennLive that his client wants to present plans to the city to open a Fun City adventure park in part of the former Bon-Ton store at the mall. Another tenant, Ryan said, is potentially interested in a project on the remainder of the Bon-Ton space.

Lower Paxton Township created a new “Downtown” zoning district. The township then changed the shopping center’s zoning to a “Towne Center” district in 2021, which allows for residential, commercial, cultural, institutional and entertainment uses.

About 30 businesses remain in the 344,421-square-foot shopping center.

Boscov’s store has been in the mall for about 38 years.