Peru Mall owner: The pandemic will affect housing plans

The president of the company that owns Peru Mall confirmed Friday that, yes, they plan to convert some of the retail space into housing.

But GK Real Estate President Garo Kholamian said how much housing they’ll build was a question mark even before the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Six months ago, Kholamian said, he might have proposed a mix of dining, entertainment, health clubs and housing. The pandemic, however, has so adversely affected those businesses he can't reasonably anticipate how much space will be allocated for each.

“The schedule is just up in the air today depending on how businesses come back,” Kholamian said

As previously reported, GK Real Estate (formerly GK Development) has a rezoning hearing pending with the city of Peru. A companion filing showed the rezoning, if approved, “allows for the development of market rate multi-family units.”

Friday, Kholamian confirmed the plans to develop at least some housing at Peru Mall and said a retail-only use for the property was no longer a viable option.

“Our basic goal has been the fact the old, interior, enclosed malls are obsolete,” Kholamian said. “But the locations are good ones and need to be redone. It’s a process that we keep changing as we go along, but most of these projects are going to become mixed-use.”

Mayor Scott Harl largely deferred comment until a sit-down with GK scheduled early next week.

“I will know more after Monday’s meeting with GK,” Harl said.