The owner of the Nittany Mall is pushing back on College Township’s plan to repair a sinkhole on the shopping center property.
Namdar Realty Group filed a civil complaint on Monday seeking an injunction to prohibit the township from fixing the sinkhole and backcharging the company for the costs.
Township Assistant Manager Mike Bloom said the township is aware of the filings but could not comment on pending litigation.
College Township Council in August approved a $153,490 bid to repair what Assistant Township Engineer Jere Northridge described as a “safety hazard” in the stormwater basin near Rural King at the corner of Shiloh Road and East College Avenue. Staff and the township solicitor said Namdar had not responded to a notice of enforcement or subsequent complaints filed in district court.
The property owner would be backcharged for all costs, including staff, consultant and contractor work, with reimbursement guaranteed through a municipal lien.
In its filings in Centre County Court of Common Pleas this week, Namdar argues that the township does not have the authority to come on to the property to fix the sinkhole, and that the company could accomplish the repairs at a much lower cost.
The sinkhole at the southeast corner of the mall property was discovered in December 2023, and Namdar hired a local geotechnical engineering firm to investigate and design a solution. In May, a contractor began work on the repairs but stopped after discovering “the problem was much larger than anticipated,” attorney Jeffrey Stover wrote.
A notice of enforcement of the township’s stormwater ordinance requiring the repair to be completed in 30 days was sent to Namdar on May 14, but the company argues that the “demand was made without regard to the newly discovered problems with the sinkhole and the need to redesign a solution.”
Namdar claims that a June 14 request to the township for additional time to complete the repairs was ignored. The township in June also filed the first of five civil complaints, each seeking $12,000 in fines, and in July issued a request for bids to fix the sinkhole.
After the bid was awarded in August, attorneys for Namdar contacted township officials. Bloom declined to comment on the nature of the discussions at the time.
College Township ordinance grants it authority to make repairs on private properties that improperly maintain stormwater facilities and charge the owner for the costs.
Namdar, however, contends that “the stormwater basin does not involve improper maintenance, but an unforeseen subterranean collapse and creation of a sinkhole,” and so the township lacks legal basis to make the repairs, Stover wrote. He added that the company “has acted in good faith to work out a solution,” and that the sinkhole has been protected by fencing.
The bid for the township project, which includes prevailing wages, also will be at a “significant increase in cost over what [Namdar] will be able to do on its own,” Stover wrote.
No hearings have been scheduled in the case as of Wednesday.
