Dutchess Mall

Dutchess Mall was an enclosed shopping mall in Fishkill, New York, United States. Currently, the former mall property is the site of a Home Depot, as well as one vacant buildings (previously occupied by Service Merchandise), with the rest of the property awaiting further redevelopment. Dagar Group manages the shopping center.^[1] R.C. Chera Realty Group is the exclusive leasing broker for the existing vacant structure.^[2]

History

Dutchess Mall opened in 1974 as the first mall in Dutchess County.^[3] The mall occupied a portion of a site once occupied by the Fishkill Encampment and Supply Depot, which has been listed on the National Register of Historical Places since Dutchess Mall's opening.^[4] The Fishkill Encampment was previously slated for conversion to a national park, but the plan was rejected.^[5] Original anchors of the mall included J. W. Mays Company and Luckey Platt, two local department stores;^[6] other major tenants included Flah's (another local department store)^[6] and Drug World (a pharmacy), as well as Radio Shack and Waldenbooks.

Former Jamesway at Dutchess Mall, 2004

J. W. Mays closed in the 1980s and was replaced with Gaynes.^[7] Gaynes, in turn, was converted to discounter Jamesway in 1988, which closed in 1994. Luckey Platt closed in the 1980s and was replaced with Service Merchandise, which closed on December 24, 1996.^[3] The former Service Merchandise was soon replaced with the Dutchess Flea Market. With both anchor stores gone, the already declining mall began its collapse, and by 2001 only the flea market remained.

For many years, Dutchess Mall was the only mall serving its area; however, it was often unable to attract many big-name tenants, due to rumors of a larger mall opening nearby. The rumored mall, which would have been anchored by Macy's, never came to fruition.^[6] Because it could not attract stores easily, and because the anchor stores had changed, the Dutchess Mall was quick to lose tenants, eventually replacing a large portion of retail space with a satellite campus of Marist College. Other problems plaguing the mall included an outdated mall design; competition from the nearby Poughkeepsie Galleria and South Hills Mall; and the advent of big box retail.^[3]

Proposed revitalization

Interior of Dutchess Flea Market, 2004

In 1999, plans were announced to convert the mall into a business community called Hudson Valley Metro Centre. The project would have included office tenants, a recreational facility, child care, and restaurants.^[8] Due to high startup costs, the plans were scrapped,^[9] and by 2001, the mall was sealed off entirely except for the flea market, which remained open. Two years later, a group of designers from New York devised a plan to convert Dutchess Mall into a women's prison. This plan was one of the finalists in "Dead Malls", a competition created by the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design.^[10] This plan, however, did not go beyond the scope of the competition.

Finally, after several years of vacancy, the mall was demolished for a Home Depot, which opened on July 5, 2006.^[1] Only the mall building itself was demolished. The former Jamesway and Service Merchandise buildings were left intact. Due to the demolition of the mall, the flea market was soon closed.

Home Depot is no longer the only store still open with a McDonald's, a Citizen's Bank branch, and a Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union branch occupying space in the lot as well. As of 2014 the old Jamesway has since become the Dutchess Marketplace Flea Market with a great variety of vendors. Behind the small part of the strip mall is a golf center.^[11]

Fish Kill Flea

In 2007, Dutchess Mall was the subject of a documentary titled Fish Kill Flea; the documentary's main focus was the mall's flea market.^[12]

References

Coordinates: 41°31′09″N 73°53′33″W / 41.519152°N 73.892463°W / 41.519152; -73.892463