UPDATE: 04/05/16, 7:00 A.M. Osgood Lane in Logan Township, Blair County has been reopened. The businesses in the Logan Town Centre remain closed as crews work on the large crack in the ground.
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One of the region’s largest shopping centers will be closed for the next 24 hours as crews attempt to work on an unsafe hillside. Penelec has cut power to the Logan Town Centre in preparation for engineers to come in Thursday.
Power will be shut off for the 52 businesses in the Logan Town Centre. Penelec is busy powering down about 58,000 volts that run through their facilities behind Ashley Furniture and Petco. Penelec and the Pennsylvania Utility Commission are worried about the crack that’s been expanding in the hillside behind the Logan Town Centre. They’ve been monitoring it for 3-4 weeks.
Scott Surgeoner, Penelec spokesman says “There is the potential that exists for that mountainside to slide into our facilities and knock those facilities to the ground. We don’t want to see that. It would result in unsafe conditions for customers or store owners in that area.”
The Kroenke Group out of Missouri owns the Logan Town Centre. We’re told they are bringing in engineers Thursday to fix the hillside. That could be by digging earth out, or placing barriers in to stop movement. Penelec doesn’t know about the fix method yet, and the Kroenke Group isn’t available for comment.
Because of the danger of a falling hillside, and to make sure the engineers can work in safety, Penelec powered this system down Wednesday night.
Surgeoner said “I don’t think you can say there was one thing that forced this evening for work from Penelec’s perspective, other than we’ve had significant rain last week and a half, and there’s more rain in forecast. Clearly anyone who’s seen the crack behind Logan Town Centre knows there’s the potential for unsafe conditions.”
Thursday, Penelec will be hooking about 40 of the businesses to the grid, on site, that’s out of danger. The other 12 businesses will be powered by generator. Penelec says 6 to 7 of those businesses have generators lined up by the owner. They’re still looking for a few more. So this means for likely the next 24 hours, all 52 businesses at the Logan Town Centre will be shut down and without power. They hope to get them up and running by Friday.
There’s no word how long the work will go on at the hillside to make it safe, but the Logan Township Emergency Director says he’s heard it could take a year. Thursday, and possibly Friday access to the Logan Town Centre is closed. Osgood Drive will be shut off to traffic.
