Waterford ― Town officials trying to divine Crystal Mall’s fate aren’t likely to be comforted by what their counterparts in the north central Connecticut town of Enfield have been going through with Namdar Realty Group, the Long Island-based developer that owns Crystal Mall and Enfield Square, a sprawling mall it acquired in 2019.

Since then, Namdar has sold off parts of the property, invested little in its upkeep and recently revealed it’s negotiating with a partner that could take control of it, Enfield Town Manager Ellen Zoppo-Sassu said Friday in a phone interview.

In May, Enfield’s canine officers were given permission to train in an empty Enfield Square space once occupied by a Macy’s.

“When they looked up, they saw the sky,” Zoppo-Sassu said. “The fire department saw a hole you could drive a car through.”

Ordered to repair the hole and address a litany of other problems, including substandard sprinklers and a lack of fire-rated walls that would help contain a fire, Namdar has dragged its feet, Zoppo-Sassu said, noting none of the problems have yet been corrected.

While repeated requests for comment on its intentions regarding Crystal Mall have gone unanswered, a spokesman for Namdar and its development partner, Mason Asset Management, did provide a statement Friday regarding the Enfield situation.

“We are fully aware of all the requirements and violations present, and are actively working with utmost diligence to address and resolve them in a timely manner,” the statement said. “We are committed to creating a safe and enjoyable environment for all of our visitors, and our management team is cooperating with the town of Enfield to address all their concerns.”

Namdar, which owns more than 60 U.S. malls, also has acquired malls in Meriden and Trumbull in recent years.

According to Jonathan Mullen, Waterford’s planning director, First Selectman Rob Brule spoke this week with a Namdar executive, the first contact between the town and Namdar since its $9.5 million purchase of Crystal Mall in May. Mullen said he didn’t believe Namdar’s plans for the property were discussed at length.

Brule, who was unavailable to comment, has said he favors a “repurposing” of Crystal Mall as a mixed-use development with commercial and residential components, including affordable housing.

In Enfield, where officials also have expressed interest in mixed-use development, Zappo-Sassu said Namdar has long had a banner hanging on the Enfield Square exterior saying the property is “for sale or lease.”

Last week, she said, Namdar officials said they were talking to a potential buyer.

“I asked for a meeting with that person,” she said. “The best-case scenario is for control (of the property) to move someplace else. … At the 11th hour, they canceled the call. … I don’t want to talk to Namdar.”

Zappo-Sassu said Namdar has only two Enfield Square employees on site to provide security and maintain the property, representing what she called “negligent management.” She said the mall’s three anchor spaces are vacant and estimated overall store occupancy is about 50%.

About two-dozen small, independent businesses maintain outlets in the mall, she said.

“I’d like to see Namdar sell to someone more responsible and more responsive to our business climate,” Zappo-Sassu said. “We’ve got two business corridors in town that are doing pretty well and this monstrosity (Enfield Square) that sits between them.”

“They are dismantlers, not investors,” she said of Namdar.

Traffic at Crystal Mall, which has about 60% occupancy, was characteristically light Friday, though shoppers were waiting in a liquidation-sale checkout line at Christmas Tree Shops, whose ownership has filed for bankruptcy. At JCPenney, the mall’s only remaining anchor store, a problem with the air-conditioning was evident. A store supervisor declined to comment.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com