Palisades Center
Palisades Center logo
LocationWest Nyack, New York
Coordinates41°05′50″N 73°57′22″W / 41.0973°N 73.9561°W / 41.0973; -73.9561
Address1000 Palisades Center Drive[1]
Opening dateMarch 1998[2]
DeveloperThe Pyramid Companies
ManagementThe Pyramid Companies
OwnerThe Pyramid Companies
ArchitectDel Pos Architects, Law Kingdon Inc.[3]
No. of stores and services218[4]
No. of anchor tenants4 at opening[5]
Total retail floor area2,217,322 sq ft (205,996 m2)[6]
No. of floors4
Parking18,000+ parking spaces
Public transit accessBus transport Rockland Coaches bus routes: 20 & 49J
Hudson Link buses: H01, H03, H05, H07, H07X
Transport of Rockland bus routes: 59, 91, 92, 97
Websitepalisadescenter.com

Palisades Center is a shopping mall in West Nyack, New York, which as of December 2022, is the twelfth-largest in the United States by gross leasable space.[7] It has also been one of the nation's most lucrative malls, producing $40 million in annual sales tax and $17 million in property taxes in its first ten years of operation.[2]

Built in the industrial style,[8] the mall was developed by Pyramid Management Group, and opened in March 1998.[2][8] It was named after the nearby Palisades, which border the Hudson River and the eastern part of Rockland County. It is bounded on three sides by major state routes: the New York State Thruway (Interstates 87 and 287) to the north (Exit 12), NY Route 303 to the east, and NY Route 59 to the south. It is also located near the Thruway's intersection of the Palisades Interstate Parkway, and is only a few miles west of the Tappan Zee Bridge, which provides access from points east of the Hudson River.[2]

The mall spans four floors.

History

1990s

According to the mall's sponsoring partner, Thomas Valenti, it took 16 years to get the mall approved and built.[2] The 130-acre site[9] was purchased by The Pyramid Companies for about $3 million and a promise to clean up the two landfills, which held incinerator ash and garbage.[10] The 875,000-square-foot (81,300 m2) mall[11] was proposed in 1985 with a goal of luring upscale retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor, and also a promise to keep sales tax dollars from slipping across state lines into New Jersey. The site was selected for its proximity to the New York State Thruway and Westchester County. Its location four miles from New Jersey, where blue laws in Paramus keep the malls closed on Sundays, was also a factor. Local residents, recalling how the Nanuet Mall nearly drew the life out of Rockland County's traditional shopping villages about 20 years earlier,[10] opposed the mall, predicting that it would bring crime,[11] increased traffic, air pollution, and an economic downturn to the area's downtowns,[2][12] and that the site was not properly tested for toxins. In October 1993, ground was broken on the mall,[10][12] whose construction would cost between $250 million and $280 million.[10][11]

The Mount Moor Cemetery. The mall is visible to the right.

The Palisades Center was built around the Mount Moor Cemetery, a cemetery established in 1849 for people of color, including Native American and African American veterans of American wars from the Civil War to the Korean War. The cemetery is visible from a number of points in the mall, and was undisturbed by construction.[13]

The Historical Society of Rockland County placed a historical sign which reads:

This burying ground for Colored people, was deeded on July 7, 1849 by James Benson. and Jane Benson. his wife to William H. Moore, Stephen Samuels and Isaac Williams. trustees. The cemetery has provided burial space for colored people, including veterans of the American Civil War, the Spanish–American War, World Wars l and ll and the Korean War. The grounds have been maintained since 1940 by the Mount Moor Cemetery Association, Inc.[14]

The construction of the mall faced a number of environmental obstacles before it began. What was initially thought to be a mastodon buried there turned out to be a circus elephant. Nesting grounds for a nearly extinct red-legged partridge turned out to be a domesticated pheasant. Other problems included flooding from one of the region's glacier-dug bottom spots and runoff from three landfills on the property.[2]

The mall was completed in December 1997 and opened in March 1998.[2][15][16] Initially the mall had four anchor stores.[5] The number fluctuated over the years as new anchors opened[13][17][18][19] and closed,[20][21][22] peaking at 16 in the 2010s.[13][17]

From its inception, rumors circulated that the mall's underground parking lot was sinking because it was built on unstable swampland, and that it would collapse under its own weight.[2]

2000s

Rumors that the mall would close abounded after the 1999-2000 holiday season. On the January 6, 2000, episode of The Rosie O'Donnell Show, host Rosie O'Donnell, who lives in Nyack, mentioned the rumor of the building's sinking to her audience. Local police, town engineering officials and the mall's developers assured the public that these stories were false and that the mall was safe and in no danger of closing.[2][13][16] A managing partner of the mall, Thomas J. Valenti, appeared on a later episode of O'Donnell's show, performing a song-and-dance number to the tune of "Cheek to Cheek" to debunk the rumors of the mall sinking.[23]

On November 5, 2002, voters in Clarkstown voted on a referendum in which the mall requested approval for it to lease 100,000 square feet (9,300 square meters) of theretofore unoccupied space, in keeping with a 1997 covenant in which Pyramid Companies agreed any additional leasing would be decided by a town referendum as part of a deal that let the mall take over three town streets. Opponents argued that Pyramid Companies had previously stated that this space had no practical use when they had built beyond the original 1.8 million square feet (170,000 square meters) they were allowed, but Pyramid insisted that they did not wish to expand beyond the limits of the mall, but rather to lease space already in the building, which would be occupied by Kids City, an educational and recreational center for children ages 3 to 12. Nicole Doliner, president of the Rockland Civic Association, characterized Kids City as a theme park.[24] Voters rejected the measure by a 2-1 margin.[25]

In 2008, opponents of the mall complained that the Superfund site located on the property was paved over rather than cleaned, and that the mall tax receipts failed to lower the average homeowner's bill as advertised. In the 2008 documentary Megamall mall opponent Bruce Broadley said, "Everything we said would happen happened. Go back and look at all the proposals and drawings. It's a vastly different mall that was built. It was sold as upscale. What they built is arguably one of the ugliest malls in America." However, Clarkstown Town Board member Shirley Lasker, who opposed the mall, said in 2008 that the board's concerns over traffic did not materialize. Valenti said that the $23-million effort to fix area roads and create a special exit for the mall on the Thruway prevented the predicted traffic congestion. Columnist Greg Clary argued that aesthetics are subjective, that average homeowners' bills did not go down due to continued spending by elected officials, and that while the downtowns were hurt by the mall, this is not unique to the area, and can be averted by town planners who represent some of the mall's 20 million patrons.[2] New York Times writer Joe Queenan criticized the mall's Brutalist exterior as lacking design and theme and characterized its rectangular layout as "a series of interlocking coffins." He also criticized the "trash gondolas" visible near the Interstate 287 entrance. Queenan had kinder things to say about the mall's vast interior, likening its sprawling floors to a retail version of Centre Georges Pompidou, analogizing its amalgamated structure to the "Gotham skyline," and lauding the bowling alley, ice rink, and food court Ferris wheel for giving people an opportunity to play "adult hooky."[19]

In 2009, the mall replaced its historic 19th-century carousel from Venice, Italy, with a modern doubler-decker model.[26]

2010s

On May 3, 2013, Pyramid officials announced that Palisades Center would undergo a multimillion-dollar remodeling from May to December that year in order to give a more upscale appearance to the mall, which had begun to show signs of wear and tear. The renovation brought a warmer color scheme to soften the institutional beige of the mall, colored glass mosaics, ceiling facets, and designer lighting. The four-story court at the center of the mall received glass handrails and architectural lighting elements, and the "ThEATery" area on Level 4 got new tile floors and chandelier fixtures. Other areas received soft seating, custom planters, and plush carpets.[8]

In 2016 Pyramid Companies received a $388.5 million mortgage on the property.[27] The following year, the mall was at full occupancy.[28]

The late 2010s saw several traditional chain anchors update their brick-and-mortar fleets, due to competition by digital retailers in recent years.[29]

On March 17, 2017, JCPenney announced that their Palisade Center location would be one of 138 of its stores to close as part of its modernization of its brick-and-mortar operations.[30]

In September 2019, it was reported that the Lord & Taylor store at Palisades Center would be closing, with Clarkstown Councilman Donald Franchino explaining that the mall needed to diversify in its pursuit of moving toward a greater a mixture of retail and entertainment.[22]

2020-present

The mall in 2021

The mall tempoarily closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and suffered financially as a result of that crisis. By July 2020, Pyramid Companies missed mortgage payments since the prior April, and had risked defaulting on its $388.5 million CMBS loan, but reached an agreement with its lenders to avoid foreclosure.[31]

In October 2020, Clarkstown held a referendum in which citizens were asked to vote on whether to lift the agreement made between the town and the mall's developer in 1998 preventing the mall from renting out 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2) of unused space in its fourth-floor attic, whose high-ceilings the mall believed would be more appealing to a wide array of possible tenants than adapting former anchor store space.[25][32] That expansion was approved November 4, 2020.[25][33]

That December, the data firm Trepp appraised Palisades Center at $425 million, which was less than half of the $881 million at which the mall was valued in 2016, when Pyramid Companies received a $388.5 million mortgage on the property.[27]

In March 2021, the Rockland County Business Journal reported that the mall, which was in a state of transition exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, would likely not replace the former Lord & Taylor and JC Penney with other department stores or retail. Stephen J. Congel, CEO of Pyramid Management Group, which manages the Palisades Center, pointed to the company's portfolio-wide diversification strategy, in which it incorporated new uses, such as residential developments, to its existing assets, though Congel did not comment when asked if residential projects were planned for Palisades Center.[34]

In early January 2022, Picanha Brazilian Steakhouse opened a location at the mall, which following the success of their first two locations in Philadelphia, marked the beginning of that chain's expansion across the United States.[35][36]

On February 10, 2023, Wilmington Trust, the trustee on the $418.5 million mortgage issued in April 2016, filed a commercial mortgage foreclosure complaint in New York State Supreme Court. The complaint came after mall's owners missed payments on both a deal that extended the maturity date of the mortgage to October 9, 2022 and a forbearance agreement extending the payment date to November 9, 2022.[37]

Layout and attractions

The mall has four floors,[19][38] which at its opening housed over 220 businesses under a 1-million-square-foot (93,000-square-meter) roof, as well as 8,500 parking spaces on the property's 2-million-square-foot (190,000-square-meter), a space large enough to fit 40 White Houses. To accommodate its customers and tenants, the mall houses 40 escalators, eight passenger elevators, and 11 freight elevators.[5]

The Ferris wheel

The third floor of the mall contains a 2,000-seat food court[11] with over a dozen quick-service restaurants, and a 60 ft (18 m) Ferris wheel.[5][39] That level formerly housed Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel Number 15, a carousel built in 1907,[5][26] and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.[40] In May 2009, mall management announced that the then-101-year-old carousel would be disassembled and removed the following month. It was replaced by a modern, double-decker Venetian carousel.[26] In October 2021, The Journal News reported that ClimbZone would replace the Venetian Carousel.[41]

On the fourth floor is a stadium-seating 21-screen AMC Theatres,[8][39] that previously held a separate IMAX theater.[42][43] Since 2016, the former IMAX site is home to 5 Wits Interactive Family Entertainment Center.[44]

At the east end of the fourth floor is an ice rink,[10][19] which is home to teams and programs that include the Palisades Predators Youth Hockey team[45] and BUDS for Hockey.[46] The rink also houses a free skate and Learn to Skate program, an arcade, and a party room for birthday parties.[47] The fourth floor is also the entry to Palisades Climb Adventure, a five-level, 85 ft (26 m) climbing obstacle course created by WonderWorks that allows guests to climb on obstacles while strapped into a harness.[48]

The mall was featured in multiple episodes of the TruTV series Impractical Jokers.[49]

The mall is used for exterior shots in the 2018 film Eighth Grade.[50]

The mall can be seen as a backdrop in the 2019 film Hustlers.[51]

References

  1. ↑ "Palisades Center". Tripadvisor. Archived from the original on October 29, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Clary, Greg (March 28, 2008). "Even 10 years after opening, Palisades Center stirs discontent". Lohud.com. Archived from the original on November 13, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  3. ↑ "Law/Kingdon involved in nation's second-largest enclosed mall". Wichita Business Journal. The Business Journals. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  4. ↑ Cunningham, Keri. "Palisades Press Room". Palisades Center. Archived from the original on April 25, 2021. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Brum, Robert (April 1, 2018). "Palisades Center turns 20 years old: Looking back and forward". Archived from the original on April 30, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Palisades Center". International Council of Shopping Centers. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved December 19, 2006.
  7. ↑ Rehman, Habib Ur (December 7, 2022). "Largest Shopping Malls in the United States". Yahoo! Finance. Archived from the original on December 9, 2022. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Stone, DZ (May 3, 2013). "Palisades Center in West Nyack to get makeover". Newsday. Archived from the original on November 9, 2013.
  9. ↑ Gratz, Roberta Brandes. "Malling the Northeast". The New York Times. April 1, 1990
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 "Mall's Future in Doubt Amid Many Questions". The New York Times. June 12, 1994. Archived from the original on May 26, 2015. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Williams, Monte. "Equal to 32 Football Fields, New Center Is Hotly Debated". The New York Times. August 11, 1996
  12. 1 2 Feron, James. "Plan to Build Huge Mall Under Attack In Rockland". The New York Times. December 31, 1998
  13. 1 2 3 4 "Palisades Center - West Nyack, New York - large indoor shopping center". City-Data. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  14. ↑ Mount Moor Cemetery - Rockland County, New York. accessed June 22, 2007.
  15. ↑ Siwolop, Sana (April 23, 2003). "Commercial Real Estate – Shopping Center Tries to Recapture Its Old Shine". The New York Times.
  16. 1 2 West, Debra (January 8, 1999). "Palisades Center, the Rumor Mall; Rosie O'Donnell Wants to Know: Is It Really Going to Sink?". The New York Times.
  17. 1 2 "Palisades Center Mall - West Nyack". Style Cabana. Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  18. ↑ Palisades Center Shopping Mall. Mahwah Homewood Suites. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Queenan, Joe (January 25, 2008). "All of America, and Parking Too". The New York Times.
  20. ↑ Bomey, Nathan (March 17, 2017). "J.C. Penney to close store at Palisades Center". The Journal News. Gannett. Archived from the original on May 27, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  21. ↑ "Bed Bath & Beyond in Palisades Mall Closing in June: Report". Rockland Report. Haverstraw, New York. October 28, 2019. Archived from the original on December 25, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  22. 1 2 Reakes, Kathy (September 27, 2019). "Lord & Taylor To Close Palisades Center Mall Store". The Daily Voice. Norwalk, Connecticut. Archived from the original on November 6, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  23. ↑ West, Debra (January 8, 1999). "Palisades Center, the Rumor Mall; Rosie O'Donnell Wants to Know: Is It Really Going to Sink?". The New York Times. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  24. ↑ Jainchill, Johanna (August 18, 2002). "IN BUSINESS; Civic Group Fights Mall Over Unoccupied Space". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 14, 2013. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
  25. 1 2 3 Brum, Robert (November 5, 2020). "Palisades Center expansion: Why voters flipped script from 2002 defeat". Rockland/Westchester Journal News. Archived from the original on November 5, 2023. Retrieved November 5, 2023 – via Lohud.com.
  26. 1 2 3 "Palisades Center Replaces Historic Carousel". Associated Press. August 27, 2009. Archived from the original on July 21, 2020. Retrieved July 21, 2020 – via New York Post.
  27. 1 2 Jones, Sasha (December 21, 2020). "Palisades Center worth half what it was in 2016: Appraisers". The Real Deal. Archived from the original on January 4, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  28. ↑ "Palisades Mall For Sale: Report". Rockland County Business Journal. Valley Cottage, New York. April 18, 2020. Archived from the original on December 25, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  29. ↑ Burke, Robert (February 27, 2019). "The Outside View: Retail Isn't Dead, It's Just Boring". Women's Wear Daily. Archived from the original on April 21, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  30. ↑ "J.C. Penney to close store at Palisades Center mall". The Journal News. March 17, 2017. Archived from the original on March 18, 2017. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  31. ↑ "Palisades Center Avoids Foreclosure, For Now". Rockland County Business Journal. July 19, 2020. Archived from the original on September 22, 2021. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  32. ↑ "Clarkstown Voters To Decide Whether Palisades Mall Can Rent Out Unused Attic Space". CBS News. October 28, 2020. Archived from the original on March 5, 2022. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  33. ↑ "Palisades Pulls Ahead: Palisades Center Expansion Gets Green Light from Voters". Rockland County Times. November 4, 2020. Archived from the original on October 18, 2022. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  34. ↑ Traster, Tina (March 10, 2021). "Clarkstown's Soon-To-Be Released Comprehensive Plan Is Looking At How To Accommodate Multifamily Housing". Rockland County Business Journal. Archived from the original on March 11, 2021. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  35. ↑ "Philly Restaurant is Expanding into Rockland". Boozy Burbs. December 3, 2021. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  36. ↑ Muchnick, Jeanne (January 12, 2022). "New year, new restaurant openings: What's coming, just opened in Rockland". The Journal News. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  37. ↑ Cutler, Nancy (February 17, 2023). "Creditors come after Palisades Center mall in court, seek foreclosure. What's at stake". The Journal News. Archived from the original on February 17, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  38. ↑ Mall Directory. Palisades Center. Retrieved November 8, 2011.
  39. 1 2 Holusha, John (February 9, 1997). "The Key to the Mall? That's Entertainment". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 4, 2018.
  40. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  41. ↑ Clark, Heather (October 29, 2021). "ClimbZone, a family-friendly climbing attraction, to replace Palisades Center carousel". The Journal News. Archived from the original on January 28, 2022. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  42. ↑ IMAX, Palisades Center Archived 2011-11-30 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 8, 2011.
  43. ↑ "IMAX Theatre Palisades Center". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved November 8, 2011.
  44. ↑ "Be Your Own Action Hero!". Archived from the original on 2015-09-10. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  45. ↑ "Palisades Predators Hockey Club". palisadespredators.com. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
  46. ↑ "Bruce Fowler Home Page". buds4hockey.com. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
  47. ↑ "Skating Lessons". Palisades Center Ice Rink. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
  48. ↑ "Now Open – Palisades Climb Adventure Ropes Course". Palisades Climb Adventure. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  49. ↑ "Impractical Jokers filming at the Palisades Mall". Rockland Report. April 6, 2019. Archived from the original on July 22, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  50. ↑ "Spot the Local Scenery in Bo Burnham's Debut Film 'Eighth Grade'". Westchester Magazine. July 24, 2017. Retrieved September 13, 2021.
  51. ↑ Clark, Heather (July 17, 2019). "Locally filmed Jennifer Lopez film 'Hustlers' trailer Premieres, hits theaters Sept. 13". Archived from the original on July 17, 2019. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
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