Mall At The Source
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Samanea New York Mall is a mixed-use development center located in the East Garden City section of
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, on
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& Merchants Concourse (Ellison Avenue), currently owned by Lesso Mall Development Long Island Inc. The center is being built inside the mostly unoccupied Mall at the Source, which was named for its former anchor store Fortunoff (advertised as "The Source") operated until June 2009. The mall opened in 1997, under the management of
Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in Indian ...
. With the 2009 closures of Fortunoff, Steve and Barry's, and
Circuit City Circuit City Corporation, Inc., formerly Circuit City Stores, Inc., is an American consumer electronics retail company, which was founded in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as the Wards Company, operated stores across the United States, and pioneered th ...
, three large anchor stores had become vacant. The drop of foot traffic by the loss of the anchors has caused other stores – the three aforementioned sub-anchor chains, plus Saks Off 5th, &
Forever 21 F21 OpCo LLC, trade name, doing business as Forever 21, was a multinational fast-fashion retailer. It was originally founded as Fashion 21 in Highland Park, Los Angeles, Highland Park, Los Angeles in 1984.Forever 21History & Facts, n.d. Retrieved ...
– and the entire food court – including
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,
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, and Ranch 1 – to pull out from the mall. Simon Property Group and unnamed co-owners of the Mall at the Source defaulted on a $124 million balloon interest-only mortgage in March 2009. It was purchased by a European pension fund in August 2012 and auctioned. In November 2016, it was announced that the Mall at the Source would be sold and could be demolished to make way for a new mixed use development. In May 2017, Lesso Mall Development Long Island Inc. – a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-listed LESSO Group – purchased the mall for $92 million. On October 21, 2017, it was announced that the Mall at the Source would be redeveloped into a decoration hub for Lesso Home, which was originally scheduled to open in the fall of 2018, but has been delayed. A few retailers, The Cheesecake Factory,
Dave & Buster's Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. (stylized in all caps) is an American restaurant and entertainment business headquartered in Dallas. Each Dave & Buster's location has a full-service restaurant, full bar, and a video arcade; the latter of w ...
, and a Fortunoff outdoor furniture and jewelry store remain open during renovations.


History


Proposal and construction (1964–1997)

Roosevelt Raceway bought the property when it expanded the harness-racing track in the 1940s for additional parking. In the early 1960s, Ohrbach's constructed a department store on leased land at north-east corner of the raceway's property. Fortunoff built its store several years later in 1964, as they followed their customers east from the original Fortunoff location in Brooklyn. Alan Fortunoff bought the entire property north of the current boundary of Transverse Drive from Roosevelt Raceway in the early 1980s. In the late 1980s, Alan Fortunoff planned to construct the Long Island Galleria shopping mall, one comparable to the size of the massive Roosevelt Field Mall a few miles away but with different stores. It was to be built by the
Westfield Group Westfield Group was an Australian shopping centre company that existed from 1960 to 2014, when it split into two independent companies: Scentre Group, which owns and operates the Australian and New Zealand Westfield shopping centre portfolio; ...
and include
Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...
and
Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a seco ...
as anchor stores. Community pressure over congestion concerns forced Fortunoff to scale back the size and scope of the mall. Roughly half of the property was sold to Price Club (now
Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores. As of 2021, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world, and as of August 2024, Cos ...
), which developed their portion to include a
Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...
(now
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). The mall was instead built by
Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in Indian ...
, and they continued to manage and co-own the mall until August 2012.


The Mall at the Source (1997–2017)

The mall was also the first on
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
to house clothing chains H&M,
Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay, San Francisco, Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of t ...
,
Nordstrom Rack Nordstrom Rack is an American off-price department store chain founded in 1973. It is a sister brand to the luxury department store chain Nordstrom. , Nordstrom Rack operates 348 stores in 41 U.S. states. History In 1973, the company open ...
, and Saks Off 5th. It was also the first to house restaurants including The Cheesecake Factory,
Dave & Buster's Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. (stylized in all caps) is an American restaurant and entertainment business headquartered in Dallas. Each Dave & Buster's location has a full-service restaurant, full bar, and a video arcade; the latter of w ...
, P.F. Chang's China Bistro, and
Rainforest Cafe Rainforest Cafe is a jungle-Theme restaurant, themed restaurant chain owned by Landry's, Landry's, Inc. of Houston. The first location opened in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, on February 3, 1994. By 1997, the chain consisted of ...
(closed on October 19, 2000). The Mall at the Source is also adjacent to many other shopping complexes and restaurants. 2009 saw the shuttering of all three anchor stores — Fortunoff, Steve & Barry's, and Circuit City — crippling foot traffic and resulting in a steady abandonment by its remaining tenants (outside of its restaurants, which maintained their standalone customers). On August 9, 2012, it was announced that the property was to go up for auction by the end of the month; by then, the mall was under 50% occupancy. The opening of the nearby Gallery at Westbury Plaza in late 2012 prompted Nordstrom Rack, Old Navy, and Saks Off 5th to move away, leaving the future of the mall uncertain. On August 28, an auction was held, but was unsuccessful in attracting buyers. Lenders then took ownership of the mall, and
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was hired for management. In 2013, a
Lord & Taylor Lord & Taylor was an American department store chain founded in 1826 by Samuel Lord. It had 86 full-line stores in the Northeastern United States at its peak in the 2000s, and 38 locations at the time of its liquidation in 2021. The Lord & Tay ...
outlet store and the Jewelry Emporium and Mall opened in the former Nordstrom Rack and Off 5th, respectively. However, these stores failed to increase foot traffic at the mall, and the vacancy rate continued to increase. In 2014, Dick's Sporting Goods closed a substantial portion of its Golf Galaxy stores, including its store in the Mall at the Source. David's Bridal moved to the nearby Roosevelt Raceway Shopping Center in June 2015, leaving the Fortunoff court almost completely vacant.


Lesso Home New York Market (2018–present)

In May 2017, Lesso Mall Development Long Island Inc. (a subsidiary of the Hong Kong listed LESSO Group) purchased the mall for $92 million. On October 21, 2017, it was announced that the Mall at the Source would be redeveloped into a Decor Hub for Lesso Home; redevelopment had been originally scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2018, but has since been delayed. It will include showrooms for many manufactures for home furnishings, decor, walkable markets, etc. The format will be much similar to the Italy-based
Eataly Eataly is a chain of large format/footprint Italian marketplaces (food halls) comprising a variety of restaurants, food and beverage counters, bakery, retail items, and a cooking school. Eataly was founded by Oscar Farinetti, an entrepreneur for ...
. The firm aims to recast the long-ailing retail center as a home-furnishings marketplace for design professionals, contractors and retail buyers—with a big food and entertainment component for local shoppers.


Former layout

The Mall at the Source had two floors and is shaped like an L. Because of this, the mall had separate "courts", named after the stores that anchor it (except for Center Court). Each anchor store had its own public entrance but not all have mall entrances; these stores tend to stay open later than the interior stores.


Center Court

The Center Court is the main entrance and includes a carousel and train. Some of the stores in the Center Court included P. F. Chang's China Bistro and Lord & Taylor Outlet. The center court is also where Steve and Barry's was; in its place is a Fortunoff Backyard Store.
Nordstrom Rack Nordstrom Rack is an American off-price department store chain founded in 1973. It is a sister brand to the luxury department store chain Nordstrom. , Nordstrom Rack operates 348 stores in 41 U.S. states. History In 1973, the company open ...
,
Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay, San Francisco, Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of t ...
, and Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th relocated to the neighboring Gallery at Westbury Plaza. The carousel has since been removed.


Off 5th Saks Court

The Off 5th Saks court is the upper tip of the L, a long hall that includes the Food Court and the former Saks Off 5th. The 1st floor has a
Dave & Buster's Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. (stylized in all caps) is an American restaurant and entertainment business headquartered in Dallas. Each Dave & Buster's location has a full-service restaurant, full bar, and a video arcade; the latter of w ...
, the only tenant left in the court. It also contained the former
Circuit City Circuit City Corporation, Inc., formerly Circuit City Stores, Inc., is an American consumer electronics retail company, which was founded in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as the Wards Company, operated stores across the United States, and pioneered th ...
.


Fortunoff Court

Like the Off 5th Saks Court, the Fortunoff Court is a long hall, ending with the former Fortunoff. It also has the 2nd floor entrance to the former Ayhan's Shish Kebab and The Cheesecake Factory. The court also used to contain
Gymboree Play & Music Gymboree is a sub brand of The Children's Place. Gymboree began with operating retail stores between the early 1970s and the later 2010s. It was founded by Joan Barnes. History Early years In 1986, the company opened a chain of clothing stores ...
,
Famous Footwear Famous Footwear is a nationwide retail chain, chain of retail stores in the United States dealing in branded shoes, footwear, generally at prices discounted from suggested retail price, manufacturer's suggested prices. The chain is a division of ...
, Golf Galaxy, and Men's Wearhouse & Tux.


See also

* Sun Vet Mall *
Dead Mall A dead mall, also known as a ghost mall or zombie mall, is a shopping mall that has low consumer traffic or is deteriorating in some manner. Many malls in North America are considered "dead" when they have no surviving anchor store or successor ...


References

{{New York City Malls Shopping malls in Nassau County, New York Shopping malls established in 1997 East Garden City, New York Uniondale, New York Shopping malls in the New York metropolitan area 1997 establishments in New York (state)