After months of troubles, power outages and delays, the sale of the Marshalltown Mall to a new owner is expected to be finalized today. Jeff Strong is co-owner of Reserve Development, an investment group based in Dallas, Texas.

“Even though we’ve never bought a mall before, it is what we do,” Strong says. “We buy vacant properties. We have a specialized niche in buying mostly vacant or vacant properties. It’s just something satisfying about bringing that back to life.”

The current owner, Kohen Retail Investment Group, has been criticized for its management of the mall. Strong says they bought one property from Kohen before.

“We had bought something from this owner in Texas, similar situation as the mall situation, but it was a strip center out front. Only had one tenant,” Strong says. “The previous owner, they have a certain model that they use, one that I don’t necessarily subscribe to, where you don’t spend any money, but if you just put some money into the project, you can attract all kind of tenants.”

He says rejuvenating the Marshalltown Mall will not be a minor undertaking.

“This is a big project. This will be one of the bigger projects we’ve done,” Strong says. “As of today, we won’t spend less than 30 million. I don’t know how much above that it’ll be, but it won’t be less than 30 million.”

Strong says that includes the purchase of the property and any renovations.

(Zachary Tomesch, KFJB, Marshalltown)