Bad-Luck Mall : Burst Water Pipe Is Latest in Series of Problems, Angry Merchants Charge

A water main that was installed as part of a $10-million renovation project and subsequently broke has forced most stores in a Simi Valley mall to remain closed until Saturday and prompted tenants to complain that the burst pipe is only the latest in a series of problems there.

One restaurant manager at the Mountain Gate Plaza shopping center said Wednesday that he had complained for at least two months about leaky plumbing to the mall’s landlords to no avail.

The 10-inch-wide main, which serves the mall’s shops and restaurants as well as a system of fire hydrants and water sprinklers, was repaired Monday after the burst pipe was discovered last Saturday by firefighters en route to a call elsewhere, fire officials said Wednesday.

But the city and the Ventura County health department ordered the mall’s entire water system to be re-chlorinated and tested for bacteria before businesses reopen to the public, a process that should be completed Friday, authorities said.

Fire Marshal Richard Wilson said it appeared that a “thrust block,” or a concrete joint designed to anchor the water pipe in the ground, had failed to hold the line together because it was too small.

Gaddis Farmer, the city’s chief of building and safety, said files showed that a plumbing permit had been issued for the failed water main and that no violations of city ordinances had been found. The mall’s owner, Champion Development Co. of Long Beach, said all construction work at the site had been done with appropriate permits.

“Everything we’ve done up there, we’ve done with permitting by the city,” said Robert Champion, president of Champion Development.

Champion said the water main was installed in the last six or seven months to replace one that ran under an old, three-screen theater, which is being replaced by a seven-screen theater as part of the center’s renovation and expansion.

At least three of the shopping center’s six restaurants were able to open Tuesday night by temporarily hooking up to a separate water system, and Champion said his company was trucking in potable water so that shops could operate as well. Champion estimated that between 30 and 40 businesses operate in the mall at 1st Street and Los Angeles Avenue, including a Builder’s Emporium, a health spa and a sporting goods store.

Managers of two of the restaurants that have reopened complained that the burst pipe was the latest in a series of problems that included poor maintenance and a high rate of vacancies.

“The owners of Sizzler are pretty upset about the whole situation,” said Al Camarillo, the manager of the Sizzler restaurant at the center.

Camarillo estimated that the franchise lost $20,000 in business between Sunday and Tuesday night, when the restaurant reopened.

Lee Donabedian, manager of Rube’s Valley House of Bar-B-Que, said he had complained about sewer leaks for at least two months without response from Champion Development or its property manager, Wilkins-Randles Associates of Encino.

“It’s been leaking for months, and we’ve been telling the landlords we’re having a problem, and nothing’s been taken care of,” said Donabedian, who estimated losses at $6,000.

Nancy Bender, executive director of the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce, said nearly half of the center’s 60 spaces were vacant before the renovation started.

“This is just one more straw over there,” Bender said. “It’s not an isolated problem.”

But Champion said the 200,000-square-foot shopping center was 80% occupied--a number he called high for a commercial complex undergoing renovation.

Bender and Simi Valley Mayor Gregory Stratton said Mountain Gate Plaza, built as an outdoor shopping center in the early 1960s and later enclosed, is among the oldest malls in the city and has long been plagued by problems while newer malls have been increasingly successful. Two of its major tenants, a Safeway supermarket and the three-screen movie theater, went out of business in recent years, and ownership has changed several times, they said.