Repairs have been made to the Bangor Mall property, witnesses said during hours of court testimony Monday.
Seven witnesses testified on behalf of mall owner Namdar Realty Group on Monday in Penobscot County Superior Court.
It was supposed to be the final hearing in a nearly year-long legal saga between the mall owner and the city of Bangor. However, witnesses for Namdar testified for more than eight hours, leaving no time for the city to present witnesses.
The hearings have been “substantial and repetitive,” Judge Bruce Mallonee said. He asked the lawyers to consider depositions because he doesn’t want another day of hearings.
The purpose of the hearing was to see if repairs have been done, City Solicitor David Szewczyk said.
The city sued Namdar twice in October and then December 2024. Mallonee found there were code violations at the property, including a leaking roof, a parking lot in poor repair, a broken sewer line that spilled and a decrepit sign.
Namdar was ordered to make repairs to the property in April and Monday’s hearing presented evidence of various stages of repairs. The roof was nearly repaired but new leaks sprung, the paving is done except for the section the mall wants to block off. The sign is scheduled for demolition.
Repairs come as Namdar is “in discussions” about selling the property.
Namdar has spent around 100 hours addressing the mandated repairs, said Daniel Giannini, senior legal advisor to Namdar Realty Group.
“I can tell you we do a tremendous amount of work every day,” Giannini said.
Roof repairs started in January but snow and bad weather conditions meant not all repairs could be done, Jarrod Williams, owner of Williams Construction, testified. He and his employees finished most roof repairs Saturday, he said.
While Williams Construction has made a lot of roof repairs, there are still leaks. Williams said he thought roof repairs were nearly done and then two of the large skylights started leaking in late June or early July.
During repairs, about 50 dead birds were cleaned out of drains on the roof, he said.
“I was shocked when I was up there about how many birds there were,” Williams said.
There’s roughly 200,000 square feet of roof space, which makes it a challenge to determine where leaks may be coming from. At one point during the winter, there was roughly 25 feet of standing water on the roof because drains were clogged, he said.
Part of the roof repairs included removing seven small skylights that were leaking and closing them, Williams said.
The biggest leak was near an entry way by the mall offices, Williams said. Part of the ceiling came down during a winter storm and it was “leaking profusely,” he said. That whole section of the roof was redone in the spring.
Missing and damaged ceiling tiles and drywall will be replaced by Bangor Mall General Manager Dawn Lazore and her team once the roof is no longer leaking, she testified.
The ring roads and most of the mall parking lot had potholes filled and the road repaved, Frank Cameron, owner of Blacktop Paving, testified.
A section of the mall parking lot by JCPenney may be blocked off by barriers because it hasn’t been paved in about 15 years and is in rough shape, Lazore said. That area is rarely used, she said.
The city would need to approve putting barriers up, she said.
Sinkholes opened around a 54-inch stormwater line in August 2024, causing a neighboring sewer line to break and human excrement to flow into nearby retention ponds that connect to the Penjajawoc Stream.
Removing and replacing the pipes and surrounding infrastructure is about 85% done, contractor Eddie Campbell testified. He and the city engineering department are in disagreement about how to reconnect a stormwater line that runs from the Hannaford across the street to where the work is being done.
Depending on what decision is made, work can finish in a few days or a few weeks, Campbell said.
Part of the mandatory repairs include remediating the ponds that had sewage in them. As of July, 11 months after the spill, the E. coli levels in the ponds were less than half of what’s considered safe by the state for swimming water as of testing in July, A & L Laboratory Director Rebecca Labranche said.
E. coli levels will dissipate after a few days or weeks, depending on the environment, Labranche said. There is nothing to remediate at this point, Giannini said.
Namdar intended to make repairs to the mall sign at the intersection of Hogan Road and Bangor Mall Boulevard, Giannini said. However, the city told him he needed a permit and permission from the property owner, he said.
The city said it was owned by Bob’s Discount Furniture but the corporate office said it wasn’t its property, Giannini said. Two weeks ago the city said it was actually its property and no permits were needed, Giannini said.
“Six months I’ve been trying to make repairs to the sign and accumulating fines,” Giannini said.
The sign will be torn down and a deposit has been paid to a contractor, the mall’s general manager testified. Versant Power needs to remove an electrical box first, Lazore said.
Demolition is scheduled for Oct. 3, Giannini said.