INDIAN RIVER COUNTY – The Indian River Mall could go dark tomorrow if management doesn’t pay $150,000 in overdue electric bills, according to Vero Beach city officials.
The city announced the mall had by 5 p.m. Tuesday to pay the electric bill. Mall owners made an agreement Tuesday afternoon with the city to make the payment by 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to officials.
If power is shut off, the common areas, the stores inside the mall, and offices will be without. It was not immediately clear whether the cut off would also affect the movie theater.
The cutoff would not affect Macy’s, Dillards, Sears and JC Penney, who pay their electric bills separately.
The matter came up at a meeting of the Vero Beach City Council Tuesday during which the Council learned the mall had bounced a $56,000 check.
City Manager Jim O’Connor described the matter as “serious.”
The mall previously went through bankruptcy proceedings and is now under new ownership, which has not made good on the electric bills, according to the City.
The City has been working with the mall’s management to get the property current on its utility bill.
According to O’Connor, the small tenants within the mall pay their portion of the electric bill as part of their rent. Those funds are then supposed to be passed on to the City.
