In a back hallway of the Bangor Mall, a laminated sign hangs on a bulletin board forbidding overnight parking at the site due to “the September 11, 2001 tragedy.”
The sign is pinned next to another document for Spruce Run-Womancare Alliance, which changed its name to Partners for Peace in 2017.
Both signs are a small glimpse of the neglect the mall has suffered in recent years, leading the city to file two separate lawsuits against the mall owner, Namdar Realty Group, over deferred maintenance.
Gregg Tweedie of Hampden, who has been coming to the mall since it opened in 1978 and was visiting an optometrist there on Monday, said the building has become “a skeleton” since it lost anchor stores such as Macy’s and Sears.
“It was really nice when it first opened,” said Tweedie. “Everyone came here, but no one comes here anymore.”
The New York-based mall owners are scheduled to fight the city’s two lawsuits in court this week. The two complaints accuse the owner of code violations, such as a leaking roof, gaping potholes and a damaged sign.
The city, meanwhile, has said it hope the lawsuits spur the owners to either make improvements to the building or sell the property to someone who will revitalize it. Several city leaders previously told the Bangor Daily News that they’d like the mall to eventually hold a mix of things, including housing, retail and office space.
Karen and Rick Bagley of Hampden said they visit the Bangor Mall roughly five times each week in the winter, but almost never to shop. Instead, they walk laps around the building to stay active.
The couple, who attended the University of Maine at Orono and have lived in the area for years, said the mall was “a hubbub” when their children were growing up.
“It’s just very sad now,” Rick Bagley said. “But, it’s a great place to walk in the winter.”
Both the Bagleys and Tweedie wondered how long the mall will stay open as stores, both national chains and local businesses, continue to leave the mall due to poor conditions and decreasing foot traffic.
“I can’t imagine it’s profitable anymore with how few stores are open now,” Tweedie said.
Namdar Realty Group did not return requests for comment on Monday.
Although the sign at the mall blamed the the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001, the overnight parking restriction, Sgt. Jason McAmbley, public information officer for the Bangor Police Department, said that likely wasn’t the case.
Instead, the sign may have been put up after the nearby Bangor Walmart stopped allowing overnight parking in its lot, and the mall managers didn’t want people to turn to the Bangor Mall as the next best option, McAmbley said.
“Mall management didn’t want people parking there overnight and 9/11 was the perfect excuse,” said McAmbley, who began working at the Bangor Police Department in February 2001.