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Risa Hoag, a Nanuet Chamber of Commerce board member, left, and Timothy S. Chhim, president of Greater Nanuet Chamber of Commerce, are photographed as construction continues on the Shops at Nanuet on the site of the former Nanuet Mall on Dec. 10, 2012. ( Matthew Brown/ The Journal News )
NANUET — Rockland’s oldest mall will reopen Oct. 1 in its new incarnation, The Shops at Nanuet, several weeks ahead of its widely anticipated opening.
Thomas Schneider, Simon
Property Group’s executive vice president for development, said construction was progressing at the site of the old Nanuet Mall and would continue through the winter.
“We are planning on opening Oct. 1,” said Schneider. “We’re all hoping for decent weather this winter ... We are doing everything we can to move things along.”
In the past the company had given no clear opening date but had indicated the shopping center would open ahead of the 2013 holiday season.
Motorists can now see the skeleton of the new structure coming up at the site of the old mall, most of which was razed to the ground earlier this year. Construction is taking place daily and the new mall is beginning to take shape. Clarkstown building department officials are monitoring construction daily at the site, the town said.
“You can see something is coming up finally,” Sheila Morahan-Gick, a Nanuet mother of three. “We have been waiting a long time for this. Now to finally see a structure, it’s exciting. It will be a good shot in the arm for Nanuet.”
Morahan-Gick said she and others in the hamlet were looking forward to good quality stores coming to the area and giving shoppers an option other than the Palisades Center in West Nyack.
The town and Simon had been in discussions for years about the Nanuet Mall, which opened in 1969 and began to lose customers and tenants when the larger Palisades Center debuted in 1998.
The slow demise of the Nanuet Mall led to a drop in revenue for Simon, and lower property and sales tax revenue for the town and the Nanuet school district.
All parties hope a refurbished mall with high-end stores will bring customers back and improve the economy of the area.
“It’s an exciting process,” said Clarkstown Supervisor Alex Gromack. “Every few weeks you’ll see something more being built.”
In meetings with Clarkstown and the local community, Simon has said it will build a 790,654-square-foot, L-shaped, open-air mall with a boulevard flanked by single-story stores with upscale fashion retailers and restaurants, next to a two-story cinema and fitness center.
"Silence is not necessarily golden"
Pedestrian walkways and landscaping would flank the stores and some parking would be available on the boulevard.
So far Simon has announced a 66,000-square foot Fairway Market will open at the mall — a first for Rockland. Regal Theaters and a large fitness center would also open.
Schneider declined to name any additional stores because, he said, lease negotiations had not been finalized.
But he said announcements would be coming in the new year.
The planned opening has also reinvigorated the business community in Nanuet, which is hoping that shoppers who flock to The Shops at Nanuet will stop by downtown Nanuet on their way to and from the mall.
To that end, businesses have come together to form the Greater Nanuet Chamber of Commerce, a rejuvenated version of a chamber of commerce that had struggled for years and finally became defunct a decade ago.
Timothy S. Chhim, president of Greater Nanuet Chamber of Commerce, left, and Risa Hoag, a Nanuet Chamber of Commerce board member, survey the construction for the Shops at Nanuet on the site of the former Nanuet Mall on Dec. 10, 2012. ( Matthew Brown/ The Journal News )
Risa Hoag, a Nanuet Chamber of Commerce board member, left, and Timothy S. Chhim, president of Greater Nanuet Chamber of Commerce, are photographed as construction continues on the New Nanuet Mall in Nanuet Dec. 10, 2012. ( Matthew Brown/ The Journal News )
“We are excited about the mall being revitalized,” said Risa Hoag, a board member of the chamber who led the effort. “The mall will be a magnet for people to shop ... We are looking at it as an opportunity to improve Nanuet as a whole.”
In a show that all businesses in the area are connected, said Hoag, Simon signed up with the chamber.
“Everybody is excited about it,” said Hoag. “It’s always nice to have a place to shop and feel proud of.”
