Palisades Center

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Palisades Center
Mall facts and statistics
Location West Nyack, New York, USA
Opening date March 1998
Developer The Pyramid Companies (EklecCo)
Management Peter Janoff
Owner The Pyramid Companies (EklecCo)
No. of stores and services 400+
No. of anchor tenants 16
Total retail floor area 2,850,000 square feet (256,500 m²) [citation needed]
Parking 9,729 Parking Spaces
No. of floors 4, plus 1 level basement garage
Website http://www.palisadescenter.com/

The Palisades Center, often referred to as the Palisades Mall, in West Nyack, New York is the largest shopping mall in the New York metropolitan area.

The mall is operated by mall general manager Peter Janoff for the Pyramid Companies, the original developer and current owner.

Contents

[edit] Location

The mall is located west of NY Route 303, south of exit 12 of the New York State Thruway (I-87 and I-287), and north of NY Route 59. It is the second-largest mall in the United States in terms of gross area at 3,500,000 square feet (325,000 m²), and with a Gross leasable area (GLA) of 2,000,000 square feet[1] is the third-largest in terms of leasable retail space (the Mall of America and the King of Prussia Mall are larger). It is named after the nearby Palisades, which border the Hudson River and the eastern part of Rockland County.

[edit] Layout

Unlike many malls in the United States, the Palisades Center is built tall, rather than wide. The mall has four levels, each of which is approximately the shape of a rectangle. Its anchor stores include Barnes & Noble, Macy's, Home Depot, JC Penney, Lord & Taylor, Staples, Best Buy, and Target.

There are four major "hot spots" on each floor: the east end (Macy's, the ice rink), the west end (Best Buy, Sports Authority, Modell's, Target), and two central areas. It would be inaccurate to say that there is a distinct "center" of the mall; it is better to think the central "hot spots" as foci of an ellipse. Though the mall does not specify any names for these areas, this article will refer to them as "west central" (JCPenney, AMC Theaters, Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath & Beyond) and the larger "east central" (CompUSA, Staples, the food court, Dave & Buster's). The defining feature of the "east central" area is its four elevators, three sets of escalators, carousel, ferris wheel, and the presence of the third floor food court. The "west central" area has two elevators and a set of escalators that serve all floors but the parking garage.

An ice rink is located at the east end of the fourth level, and an IMAX theater is located alongside a stadium-seating 21-screen AMC movie theater in the west central area.

[edit] Dining

There are several dining options throughout the mall. On the first floor are The Cheesecake Factory, which replaced Rainforest Cafe, and Aromi D'italia. On the second floor is Johnny Rockets. The food court in the center of the third level contains a carousel and a ferris wheel, as well as over a dozen restaurants. The fourth floor, also called the ThEATery (a portmanteau of "theater" and "eatery"), includes several casual dining restaurants, such as T.G.I. Friday's, Chili's, Stir Crazy, Fox Sports Grill, Legal Sea Foods, Outback Steakhouse, Cheeburger Cheeburger, Dave and Buster's, and Chevy's. As of mid-February 2006, Romano's Macaroni Grill, which had been a mall tenant since its opening, had closed (a Mexican restaurant seems to be going in).

[edit] Shopping concepts

Probably the most striking thing about Palisades' tenant mix is finding Home Depot and BJ's Wholesale Club, two merchants that typically are not found within other shopping malls. Though they share the same building as the rest of the mall, there is no way for the public to access BJ's or Home Depot directly from the interior of the mall proper.

In addition to hosting such non-traditional tenants, the Palisades Center has been the first location for several new concepts, including an Opus entertainment venue and several specialty boutiques. On August 24, 2005, a Forth & Towne location opened in the Palisades Center, the first store of this type to open anywhere. The clothing store is the first location in the newest chain of stores to be operated by GAP. Its selection is targeted at fashion-conscious middle-aged women.

[edit] Mall construction (1995-1998)

The Palisades Center mall was constructed on the former site of Dexter Press (a famous and long-time printer of postcards), a bowling alley, a car dealership, Hogan's Diner (an institution with the slogan, "Where the Elite Meet to Eat") and a landfill, adjacent to a swampy area of Route 59 frequently prone to flooding from the nearby Hackensack River.

When the mall was first planned in the 1980's, the developers hoped to lure upscale anchors. However, somewhere between town board approval and grand opening, these plans changed. Public areas that were to be "finished" gave way to the mall's current decor of exposed steel beams, concrete floors, and bright splashes of color and neon.

Many speculate that the Palisades Center was constructed too hastily,for it has many apparent quirks. Along with the rides and ice rink on the fourth floor, the original plan for the mall was much larger and included a roller coaster. Allusions to a roller coaster are made by the track-like lighting fixtures above the food court (which, contrary to rumor, are not actual abandoned track). The original intention was for the mall to be an East Coast version of the Mall of America, a destination going beyond shopping that would be visited by tourists from outside the area.

The original plan for the mall was reduced somewhat due to opposition from people in the Town of Clarkstown. Some believed that traffic would clog the nearby small roads, and to satisfy them the mall plan was scaled down and certain turns to and from mall roads were made illegal. The purpose of these signs is to keep traffic off local streets and direct it on to highways, such as Routes 303 and 59 and the New York State Thruway. Local residents routinely ignore these signs due to inconvenience.

A 2002 referendum to expand the mall was voted down. The "expansion" would have finished unused space on the 3rd and 4th floors at the east end of the mall. At the time of the vote, there was an "empty space walking tour" that one could take. Currently, the 4th floor east end is empty except for the ice rink and four community rooms used by groups within Rockland County.

[edit] Sinking?

There have been persistent rumors that the mall was sinking.[2] Long-time residents of West Nyack have claimed that the mall was built over a swamp. Many believe that the foundation was not stabilized prior to the construction of the mall and the mall is slowly sinking into the swamp. The proponents of the "sinking" theory point to the cracks in the cement floors, particularly in the now-carpeted first floor, the holes which appear next to support columns in the semiannually repaved underground parking garage, and also in the way the mall often shakes. However it is also possible that the "sinking" theory is an urban legend, as similar tall tales are told about many colleges and libraries across the United States, and were told about several other Pyramid Malls, like the Poughkeepsie Galleria and its parking deck.

In late 1998, Rosie O'Donnell, who lived in Nyack at the time, shared her town's gossip about the mall on her TV show. Soon afterwards, Thomas J. Valenti, one of the mall's builders appeared on her show to address the problem, and promised the mall was not sinking (even singing a song he had composed to this effect). Pyramid has said on numerous occasions that the mall is perfectly sound and stable, and is not sinking.

Valenti suggested that the rumors could have been started by competitors or local residents who opposed the mall.

[edit] Mount Moor Cemetery

The Palisades Center was built around the Mount Moor Cemetery, a 150-year-old burial ground for African-Americans, including many black veterans. The cemetery is on the south side of the mall, next to the parking deck, and can be seen by drivers going to or from the deck.

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 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."

An external link below provides a partial listing of the people buried at this site.

[edit] Anchor stores

[edit] Former anchors

[edit] References

  1. ^ International Council of Shopping Centers: Palisades Center, accessed December 3, 2006
  2. ^ Palisades Center, the Rumor Mall; Rosie O'Donnell Wants to Know: Is It Really Going to Sink?, The New York Times, January 8, 1999

[edit] External links

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