Emporium Centre manager, vacating tenant battle over mall conditions

American Eagle, the clothing retailer suing former operators of the Emporium Centre San Francisco over allegedly neglectful management and criminal activity at the mall, said in a letter filed in court that it would surrender its recently closed store Friday.

The company, which had nearly 3½ years remaining on its lease at the giant half-empty mall at Fifth and Market Streets, alleged in a blistering “Notice of Termination” letter that it had been “constructively evicted” as a result of continuing and increased security incidents and other substandard conditions, including an infestation of mice in its store.

However, the current landlord, court-appointed receiver Gregg Williams of Trident Pacific Real Estate Group, has forcefully rejected those assertions in a court filing, insisting that conditions at the mall have improved since he took over in October and promising to initiate claims against American Eagle if it “breaches” its lease.

City records appeared to some degree to support the receiver’s position, with the number of police reports arising from police-related calls for service to The City’s emergency dispatch center declining in the roughly seven months following his appointment compared to the same period for the two prior years.

The City logged 46 police reports from Oct. 10 through May 19, 133 police reports for the same period ending in 2022 and 119 police reports for the stretch ending last year.

Some store managers, employees, and security guards interviewed by The Examiner agreed that security at the mall had improved, with guards more visible and dog handlers regularly patrolling. At the same time, some said theft remained a vexing issue.

American Eagle sued former mall operatorWestfield in September, seeking damages for alleged mismanagement of the mall in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Westfield’s parent company, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, stopped making payments on a $558 million loan in June 2023, and a San Francisco Superior Court judge appointed Williams to manage the property.

American Eagle said in a May 6 letter to attorneys for Williams and Westfield that “after Westfield ran the Mall into the ground, American Eagle gave the Receiver every chance to improve security conditions at the Mall,” but Williams’ “promises” to right the ship “have proven hollow.”

The rate of security incidents at the American Eagle store actually increased “significantly” after Williams took over, rising from one every four days to one every 2½ days, the letter alleged.

On Feb. 8, a man came to the store and “beat American Eagle employees with a belt,” requiring three security guards to remove him from the store “with no mall security in sight,” the letter said.

The same man came back to the store on Feb. 12 to “berate American Eagle employees while implying that he had a concealed weapon,” it said.

In addition, American Eagle claimed that “vermin” were flourishing in the mall amid unattended empty stores, and the company was “paying for pest treatment on a near daily basis because of all the mice running through the store and defecating on American Eagle’s products.”

The receiver strongly rejected American Eagle’s claims in a June 27 court filing that said there was “no support” for the contention that security had declined since his appointment and calling the allegation “self-serving and false.“

The statement said the receiver had “significantly improved security” at the mall, installing an on-site management team from real-estate company JLL, increasing the number of security guards and adding security dogs.

The receiver’s security team had recorded only “one reported event” from American Eagle since he took control, and American Eagle’s reference to that event — “in which there were no reported contacts or injuries” — is inconsistent with video footage, the statement read.

Mall general manager Lane Wade also provided The Examiner with a general statement asserting that conditions at the mall are improving.

“The Centre and downtown are making progress in a number of areas. Change takes time, but we are seeing positive trends,” Wade said. “Our top priorities at the Centre continue to be to enhance the guest experience and continue to improve security for our guests and tenants.”

Wade said there is “a momentum shift downtown” with popular new events , city funding for improvements, and the addition of new retailers, bars and restaurants. He said the mall is seeing an increasing number of prospects interested in locating there.

American Eagle in its letter said that nine stores had left the mall following the receiver’s appointment.

In June, the mall’s operators announced that seven new tenants had signed leases , including a city-backed program that gets young people paid internships, a company that provides local sidewalk-cleaning services, and several retailers.

With American Eagle heading for the doors, the Ray-Ban store at street level near the mall entrance on the side of the complex where Nordstrom closed its vast department store last August has become increasingly alone.

Store manager Richard Wahl credited members of the receiver’s management team with bringing more order and with being more accessible. For example, they are using a text system for people to report issues and are providing quick responses, he said. Wahl said he has also been glad to see some people being escorted off the premises.

“This was not happening before,” Wahl said. “I think they’ve done a great job of getting it together at this stage of the game.”

But Wahl said theft remains a persistent issue, even though his store and numerous others in the mall have their own security guards at entrances.

“I would say that it hasn’t abated,” said Wahl, who held a stack of theft reports that he was preparing for his company’s internal use.

Wahl said he counts it as a good week when someone does not steal from his store, which still manages to do good business, and he would like to see more done to prosecute people who habitually steal.

The thieves have been “very bold,” Wahl said. He laid significant blame on Proposition 47, the 2014 statewide ballot initiative that classed some nonviolent property crimes involving less than $950 as misdemeanors. A measure on this November’s ballot would reform Prop. 47 and increase penalties for some drug and theft crimes.

Routinely, Wahl said, thefts at his store have not resulted in police reports because the dollar amounts were too low.

Wahl said the environment on the streets around the mall can be troublesome. In late June, someone smashed a $25,000 piece of custom glass in his store’s Market Street window overnight, even though a retractable interior metal gate would have prevented anyone from entering the part of the store with merchandise, he said.

“It was just mayhem. Purely mayhem,” said Wahl, estimating it could take three months to get the window fixed.

Exterior doors at the nearby Razer computer store were also attacked, and thieves stole multiple laptops and clothing.

American Eagle complained in its letter and lawsuit about not being able to use its street entrance because of “violent individuals and thieves,” saying that in exchange for millions of dollars, it was “supposed to receive a downtown street-front store in an international brand mall in a major U.S. city. Instead, it received an isolated, standalone store in a crime and filth-ridden space.”

Like Wahl, Chris Jue, a store manager at the boutique sneaker and apparel store Sole & Laces, said criminals do not adequately fear accountability. His store secured its more-valuable clothing with cords and locking devices — and then saw the number of shoplifting incidents decrease, he said.

As for the mall’s security guards, Jue said he sees them, but he is frustrated because they are limited in what they can do.

Recently, Jue said, an employee of his store chased after a man in an effort to retrieve a stolen hat. A security guard asked the thief to give it back, but the man refused and departed, Jue said.

Meanwhile, another manager of a clothing store, who spoke on condition that she and her employer remain unnamed, expressed frustration at questions about security.

The woman said she and her staff do keep a close watch through their plate-glass windows and shut the door if potentially problematic people approach.

But she said San Francisco is not unlike other cities across America that face issues with crime, and The City needs to better address homelessness.

“I literally have customers that think it’s like a war zone,” she said. “It’s just not.”