AKRON, Ohio — Akron's Chapel Hill Mall will soon be losing its last anchor store.
In an email to 3News, JCPenney confirms that it will be closing its doors at Chapel Hill this spring.
"As part of a standard annual review, JCPenney will be closing its store located at Chapel Hill Mall with an effective closing date of April 24. This decision is the result of an ongoing review of our store portfolio. It’s never easy to close a store, however, we feel this is a necessary business decision," said company spokesperson Kristen Bennett.
According to the Akron Beacon Journal, JCPenney will hold a liquidation sale beginning February 28.
The JCPenney closure comes as Chapel Hill Mall faces foreclosure proceedings from Summit County. The mall owes more than $166,000 in back taxes, and a bill going out this month for just over $400,000 will include the back taxes, additional property taxes and utility assessments.
In addition, the mall has also faced problem with its water and electric bills. The City of Akron threatened to turn the water off Friday but decided not to after the owner made a partial payment.
On two occasions in 2019, tenants at Chapel Hill Mall were notified by FirstEnergy that electricity would be turned off because mall management hadn’t paid the bill.