Rowan County is repairing a sewage problem that drove out the former operator the Salisbury Mall Cinemas.
The county bought the mall — now named West End Plaza — in December for $3.425 million with plans to move some county departments there alongside existing tenants.
But Daniel Kleeburg, who for 10 years had operated the popular theater that showed movies for $2.50 after their first-run presentations, had shut down the business in November. Kleeburg said he’d told the former mall owner about repeated sewage backups into the theater, but got no help.
County Manager Gary Page said the problem stemmed from a manhole put in the wrong place. On the east side of the theater — which sits on an outparcel — the manhole was directly downhill from neighboring commercial parking lots. Last year’s heavy rains dumped massive amounts of water into the manhole, causing sewage to back up into the theater.
The county is paying $24,000 to correct the problem, including having the manhole moved and the sewer system from the theater rerouted to connect with the main system for the mall, Page said. The money is coming from tenants’ lease payments and was included in a budget county commissioners approved for the mall in January.
Page said the repairs had to be made if the county is to attract another theater, or any tenant, to the former cinemas.
He also said is working with two potential new tenants at the main building, a hair salon and small restaurant.