The Shops at Nanuet sold to Rockland developer. What's next for the outdoor mall?

The Shops at Nanuet sold to Rockland developer. What’s next for the outdoor mall?

Posted by Admin January 7, 2025 Shopping

Spread the love

The site could end up part of a years-long plan that focuses on Transit Oriented Development for downtown Nanuet.
Rockland County Executive Ed Day said the sale marked “an exciting new chapter for Rockland County.”
Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann said Alexander Property Holdings owner Gabe Alexander “has a vision.”

NANUET – The Shops at Nanuet, an upscale-ish outdoor mall that’s seen its share of change in its two-plus decades, has a new owner. The former Simon Properties portfolio member is now part of New City-based Alexander Properties.

The site, at 1000-912 Fashion Drive, fronts busy Route 59 and Middletown Road. It sits within a Transit Oriented Development zone eyed by the town of Clarkstown, with the Nanuet commuter rail station just blocks away.

“I’m excited, especially after talking with Mr. Alexander,” Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann said, referring to Gabe Alexander, principal of Alexander Properties. “He’s looking at managing it as a key retail property. He’s likely to look at some changes over there.”

The sale of two of the three lots in the property known as Shops of Nanuet was completed Dec. 31, Hoehmann said.

Alexander Property Holdings representatives did not immediately return requests for comment.

The deed, which would include the sale price, had not yet been filed with the Rockland County Clerk as of Dec. 6. The Clarkstown Assessor’s Office also did not yet have documents.

What we know about plans for Shops at Nanuet

Hoehmann said that while Simon Properties had been a good property owner, Alexander, a Rockland County resident, offered another level of interest.

The properties in the purchase include the main portion of the Shops at Nanuet and the Sears and Sears Auto Center property on the western side. The former Macy’s building, which now houses a furniture store and storage center, are under different ownership.

The town’s comprehensive plan has called for Transit Oriented Development around Nanuet train station, which is just south off Middletown Road and just blocks from the mall. A TOD zone would focus on housing, jobs, services, entertainment and other amenities all near public transit, including commuter rail and buses.

Simon Properties had discussed plans with the town to build up to 300 housing units of what’s often called “Live. Work. Play” or “Lifestyle Center” development.

It’s a discussion Hoehmann envisions will be ongoing with the new owners.

“The town has always wanted a connection to the Shops and the train station,” Hoehmann said.

And housing could be a part of that. “That’s something that we’re O.K. with,” Hoehmann said. “It’s imbued throughout our vision for our comprehensive plan.”

Hoehmann said that any zone changes would be viewed within the rubric of the town’s TOD plan; specifically, that calls for housing units that are one- or two-bedroom.

Meanwhile, Hoehmann said Alexander was working on finding new tenants and keeping current ones.

Hoehmann said that Rockland Plaza, the strip mall across Route 59, is also considering a refurbishment.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day said on Jan. 6 that the sale of the Shops at Nanuet marked “an exciting new chapter for Rockland County.”

“Rockland’s strategic location and sound fiscal status continue to attract investment and innovation,” Day said, “and I look forward to the economic growth and opportunities this next phase will bring.”

Alexander Property Holdings’ projects include housing, malls

Alexander Property Holdings has been involved in key property development within Rockland County for years. The company owns a large section of the Spring Valley Marketplace and continues a renovation of the strip mall with boutique-style stores in an interior mall space.

The company is also building The Reserve at Clarkstown, a 55-plus active adult community in West Nyack, on the site of the old Schimpf Farm.

It was the developer of the Pavion apartments in Nyack at the site of a former cosmetics factory.

“There isn’t anything that Gabe Alexander hasn’t built or done,” Hoehmann said. “He’s somebody who has a vision and it’s a vision that’s not going to be much different from what’s there now. The town will hold them to a certain standard. but I think it’s a developer that has pretty high standards.”

Mall’s history of boom and fizzle

Simon Property Group opened the Shops of Nanuet in 2013, a replacement for the two-story indoor Nanuet Mall, which opened in 1969. A destination magnet in its heyday, the Nanuet Mall had become an also-ran in the shadow of the Palisades Center that opened in 1998 down Route 59 in West Nyack.

The Shops was designed as an open-air specialty mall featuring 50 shops, including restaurants, a fitness center, movie theater and grocery. A Fairway supermarket opened at the mall with fanfare, but later closed amid the chain’s boom-to-bust cycle.

Stop and Shop moved from across Middletown Road to Fairway’s old spot.

Anchor stores included Sears and Bamberger’s, then a Boscov’s, then Macys. The site now lacks that kind of department store.

While the mall picked up the Apple Store, there’s been plenty of churn, and closures with no replacements. Among the recent closures: P.F. Chang’s, which shuttered in September 2024.

Like the Palisades Center, the Shops at Nanuet was eyed as a sales tax boon for Clarkstown, expected to bring in tens of millions of dollars a year and hundreds of retail jobs.

While sales tax generators, the sites didn’t live up to expectations.

In July 2024, the Clarkstown town board O.K.’d a multimillion-dollar tax settlement with the Palisades Center and the Shops of Nanuet, which challenged years’ worth of assessments.

Meanwhile, the Palisades Center remains in court fighting foreclosure and under the watch of a temporary receiver.