Clarkstown Town Supervisor Alex Gromack says Simon Property Group, owner of the Nanuet Mall, has shared a tentative 30-month timeframe for demolishing, rebuilding and opening a new shopping center.
Gromack, met with representatives of Simon Property, who told him the concept for the new mall will be different than the style of the current but will be built within its footprint.
“It’s an outside mall, not an interior mall,” he said. “They’re developing treatments like walkways, canopies.”
Proposed timeline:
- In two weeks, Simon expects to submit demolition plans to the town building department.
- The building department will need two weeks to review the demolition plans.
- In mid to late August, Simon hopes to submit site plans to the building department. This is expected to be an eight-month review process.
- Around September 10, demolition of the Simon-owned structures including the main concourse, former Boscov’s department store building and the two-story parking structure will begin.
- Demolition can take up to four months. The Macy*s and Sears department store buildings are owned by their corporate parents.
- The tentative start date for construction is May 2012.
- New mall opening is scheduled for November 2013.
“They have a timeframe they want to try to meet,” said Gromack. “We’re going to try to help them meet that. “
In addition to Clarkstown’ s review and approval of plans, state agencies including the Department of Transportation and Department of Health will be involved.
According to Gromack the demolition plan is about 80 percent complete.
Once the planning board receives the demolition proposal it will move as quickly as possible.
“We feel we can go over that in two weeks,” said Gromack.
He thinks the board could review and approve the demolition plan by the end of July.
The actual mall concept will be clearer in August when Simon presents the site plan and then formally announces its redesign plans. At this time, the supervisor does not know if the new mall will be multi-level like the current one. The Nanuet Mall covers 913,000 square feet and opened in 1969.
“It would be a much different look,” he said, noting that the company is still researching and meeting with different potential tenants. “They’re moving forward to try to get that all in place.”
Gromack is optimistic about the future.
“We think it’s going to be a smooth process,” he said. “It certainly will do a lot for assessments of the town and school district.”
The local economy will also benefit from new full-time and part-time employment opportunities.
Simon Property Group, Inc. is an S&P 500 company that owns or has an interest in 373 retail real estate properties comprising 256 million square feet of gross leasable area in North America, Europe and Asia. Simon Property Group employs more than 5,000 people worldwide.
Additionally, demolition approval must be tied into granting any preliminary approvals of the replacement (outside) shopping center. I'd hate to see total demolition take place and then be stuck with either having nothing rebuilt or an eyesore of another poorly designed "strip mall". This project should be considered "new" construction and the town must enforce Simon's to present a completely new Environmental Review as per NY State law, and include public input regarding the impact of this "new" strip mall. As we live with the errors and problems resulting from the "approval" of the Palisades Center, the Town Board must not let us, the residents of Clarkstown, get saddled with another "White Elephant" of a project that only benefits the property owners and development principals. When was the last time YOU approved something being done to your home without first seeing what the final product.