Station Mall’s new management says the parking spaces on its property are for its own staff and patrons only and other vehicles are subject to fines or will be towed.
Station Mall was purchased earlier this year by Markham-based SM International Holdings Ltd.
Late last month, notices were hand delivered to neighbouring businesses by Station Mall’s new management company, Cushman & Wakefield.
“It has been brought to management’s attention that many neighbouring businesses and their employees, clients and guests continue to regularly abuse these private parking facilities on a regular basis,” said the notice. ”Going forward, if any of your employee or patrons' vehicles are parking without authorization, they will be ticketed and all parking by-laws and remedies will be used, up to and including towing of unauthorized vehicles.”
By rough count, the mall has about 60 occupied stores and about 23 unoccupied stores, including the former Sears and Zellers anchor stores. It also has a vacant sit-down restaurant and two vacant food court restaurants.
Reached by email on Friday, a spokesperson for Cushman & Wakefield sent the following:
“The parking notices were distributed as we are preparing for ongoing tenancy growth as well as our upcoming snow removal program on the privately owned and operated parking lot.”
Downtown Association executive director Salvatore Marchese said the mall has always had a policy against non-mall staff and patrons using the parking lot, the difference now is the new management company and new owners.
“It was informal and just okay, the process has been more formalized now. It’s always been posted that the parking was for individuals using the Station Mall, it just seems now like it’s being enforced,” said Marchese.
He notes some cities designate parking for people who work downtown.
“The city does licence out parking in some of the lots for the workers and there are a number of private individuals who sell spots behind their buildings or adjacent to their buildings,” said Marchese.
SooToday has learned the nearby Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) building was one of the targets of the notice. The OLG building has its own covered parking lot, but people using it must pay for the space.
Marchese notes the mall management has every right to enforce parking on its property, but he is concerned people who were parking in the empty Sears parking lot will now have to find somewhere else to park. That may end up encroaching on spaces needed for downtown business owners.
“My concern is, are there enough spots so that people who work downtown can get downtown to work?” he said.
For years, parts of the Station Mall parking lot have been used as overflow parking for Soo Greyhounds games and other events at the city-owned GFL Memorial Gardens.
SooToday asked Cushman & Wakefield if the enforcement includes the use of the parking lot for Soo Greyhounds games and other events. The spokesperson did not answer that question.
City spokesperson Tessa Vecchio told SooToday on Friday it had not been informed of a change in policy regarding the use of the mall lot for Greyhounds games. Vecchio did not answer a follow-up asking what the current policy is in regards to use of the mall parking during city-run events.
The apartments at 49 St. Mary’s River Dr. Are owned by the Sault Ste. Marie Housing Corporation. It has its own parking lot, but some residents park in a section of the mall parking lot near where the former Zellers store was located.
Mike Nadeau, CEO of the District Of Sault Ste. Marie Social Services Administration Board, said it has an agreement for tenant parking in that location.