Temple Mall's doors are locked, closed by the City of Temple in late June over fire and building code violations — but repairs are now underway as business owners find alternate ways to serve the community.
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Except for Dillard's, which has its own fire safety systems, the entire mall was shut down. Red signs on the doors detail how businesses can stay in contact with customers and continue providing services until the City allows the mall to reopen.
Patricia Predgo said she was shocked to see the signs on the doors.
"I thought, well, I guess it's still celebrating the holidays or something, you know, because it's unusual to see this mall that's empty. It's an old mall. It was, uh, the 2nd one, I guess that Temple put in here. I don't know. Maybe it wasn't, but. It was always the big one," Predgo said.
Predgo said she hopes the mall can return to its former character.
"I hope they bring in what they had, like I'd like to have a Penny's and Dillard's, and they used to have a Foley's. Maybe I'm telling my age there. But it's, it's, it was a nice mall," Predgo said.
Peggy's Coffee House, one of the mall's tenants, moved to a temporary location at Neighbors on 7th Street. Owner Robert Brandenburg said repairs have focused on what he calls the three P's — panel, pump, and pipes.
"I think the three big issues I've kind of dubbed the three P's, you got panel, pump, and pipes, and the new state-of-the-art panel has been installed by Rapid Fire, and they're troubleshooting all the error codes that it was throwing and then finding those sensors that caused the codes and replacing them. So some of that's tedious work. The fire pump itself was having mechanical issues and that engine has been completely rebuilt and it is fully functioning," Brandenburg said.
Brandenburg said work on the fuel tank that powers the fire pump is next, and the sprinkler system has also been addressed.
"The next thing to address is the fuel tank that provides the diesel to that pump. As far as the pipes go, any sprinkler that had a leak or anything that was wrong that might have had a riser that sent water to those pipes that was not on, all those are back on and everything's back online. I think the big things have been addressed and have gotten worked on. Now it kind of goes into all those little things that are tedious and also time-consuming to sew up all the ends, and it just really depends on what the city of Temple and the fire marshal's department decide to do and working with the mall," Brandenburg said.
To keep the public informed with correct information during the closure, Brandenburg created the "What's Happening With the Temple Mall" Facebook page, which has generated significant community engagement.
"The mall may not be here one day. Things can't stay forever, but we get a lot of positive responses and people's positive encouragement about the mall bouncing back and hopefully being able to become something new and different and exciting within our community. We see its potential," Brandenburg said.
The owners of the mall did not respond to a request for comment.
Rapid Fire Belton confirmed it is providing fire repair services to the mall. There is no timeline yet for when the mall will be ready to reopen.
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