Mostly built between the 1950s and 1980s, Long Island’s ubiquitous shopping centers have long defined the commercial landscape of the area. However, amidst changing consumer behavior and the massive shift toward e-commerce, many of Long Island’s malls and retail power centers no longer meet their communities’ needs.

Our aging malls present an exciting opportunity for developers, according to Gene Spiegelman, a partner at RIPCO Real Estate in Woodbury. “Despite Nassau and Suffolk counties’ affluent, 3 million-person market, the area lacks modern, class-A retail centers with experiential and mixed-use elements,” he says. “Redeveloping outdated malls and other shopping center formats—strips, grocery-anchored centers and power centers—into vibrant, multi-purpose destinations presents a valuable opportunity to meet current demand and keep Long Island competitive in the retail market.”

Shoppers have adapted to the rise of online retail, and several malls are being redesigned to address the shifting behavior of consumers, driving a surge in redevelopment and changing our understanding of the function of malls. “The shopping center landscape has certainly changed as internet shopping continues to grow,” says Jon Cohen, principal at Blumenfeld Development Group in Syosset. “Notwithstanding some retailers downsizing and going out of business as a result of internet shopping, other stores have reinvented themselves and have filled many vacated stores.”

Some shopping patterns haven’t changed, and new shopping centers will have to incorporate some familiar fixtures to catch on with consumers. “To have a successful shopping center, the tenant mix is crucial,” explains Cohen. “As always, ‘essential’ retail is critical, which is why supermarket anchor tenants are prevalent. In addition, successful centers typically include a mix of entertainment, fast-casual dining options and trendy sit-down restaurants, wellness and fitness.”

However, certain types of tenants have struggled in malls and other large retail centers, Cohen notes. “It has become difficult for the smaller specialty stores to survive and compete with the junior anchor stores and larger discount stores, along with internet shopping.”

More recently, the cohort of New York City residents who have traded their metropolitan pads for life in the suburbs seem to have influenced the tenant mix at upcoming centers. “People moved back to suburbia during COVID, but they brought their urban tastes with them,” says Ken Schuckman, principal at BTF Capital and Schuckman Realty, currently leading the redevelopment of the former Broadway Commons property in Hicksville. “Now, Long Island has opportunities to build communities and environments to keep that population here—that means providing resources, amenities and a ‘third place’.”

The Shoppes on Broadway aims to provide this ‘third place’—a term that denotes a social gathering location apart from home or work—through the offering of an open-air district that can be adapted for each season, featuring a movie theater, entertainment venues and restaurants.

The metamorphosis of malls has spread to Suffolk County as well, as evidenced by the former SunVet Mall’s transition to The Shops at SunVet in Holbrook. The property, ground leased by Blumenfeld Development Group in July 2022, was re-designed to be a Whole Foods-anchored regional shopping center in a joint venture with Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Shopping Centers. The center is slated to open later this year.

Both projects reflect a trend toward open-air designs that make a more efficient use of space than enclosed centers. Spiegelman recognizes that once-reliable anchors are weighing down malls that could potentially explore better use. “Malls that struggle often rely too heavily on traditional anchors, feature generic enclosed environments and lack experiential elements,” he says. “In contrast, thriving centers recognize that brick-and-mortar stores complement e-commerce, providing consumers with brand engagement, convenience and diverse fulfillment options to enhance the shopping experience.”

Though municipal and community opposition has threatened to halt other large-scale commercial development projects, Schuckman senses a sea change in Long Islanders’ outlooks. “Long Island has suffered from anti-development sentiment in the past,” he says, “but today, towns and villages have recognized that high-density residential development helps to keep young people on Long Island and start families.”

Demographic changes in our communities may explain the shift in public opinion, suggests Schuckman. “Many people who left the dense areas of Queens and Brooklyn to settle on Long Island did not want the city to follow them. That fear has largely gone away.”

Schuckman believes being a local developer has helped earn community support for the Hicksville project. “We’re building something that I’ve always wanted since I was a kid,” he says. “The fact that we’re local definitely makes a difference.”

Even though residents in general may be warming up to the idea of redeveloping outdated malls, firms leading these projects can still expect challenges. “The biggest hurdles are high construction costs, rising interest rates on loans and lengthy entitlement processes,” Spiegelman says. “Securing local and county approvals is time-consuming and costly, due to complex layers of bureaucracy and the need to address various stakeholder concerns.”

Still, Spiegelman sees more major mall redevelopment projects in the future, as the market aligns itself with the desires of today’s shoppers. “Beyond these large projects, repositioning efforts will continue across all retail formats, from small strip centers to grocery-anchored and big-box shopping centers, as landlords adapt to shifting consumer preferences.”