- The Mall at the Source
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The Mall at the Source Location Westbury, New York, USA Opening date September 5, 1997[1] Developer Simon Property Group, Fortunoff Management Simon Property Group
(vacant Fortunoff's space is managed by CB Richard Ellis)Owner Simon Property Group
(Fortunoff space, currently vacant, is owned by Hudson's Bay Trading Company)No. of stores and services 44 No. of anchor tenants 4 Parking Large free parking lot and garage No. of floors 2 Website http://www.simon.com/mall/default.aspx?ID=104 The Mall at the Source (also known as The Source Mall or simply The Westbury Mall) is a shopping mall located in Westbury, New York on Old Country Road and Merchants Concourse (Ellison Avenue). It has many stores including Old Navy and H&M. It also has restaurants such as The Cheesecake Factory and P. F. Chang's China Bistro. The mall was named for its former anchor store Fortunoff (which used the phrase "The Source" in advertising for the chain), which the mall was built around and which closed in June 2009.
With the closure of Fortunoff, Steve and Barry's (which closed in early 2009), and Circuit City (which closed in March 2009) since 2009 began, three large anchor stores have become vacant. With a challenging retail climate, finding new tenants to fill these spaces will be difficult. The substantial drop of foot traffic by the loss of the anchors has caused other stores, such as Forever 21, Starbucks, Ayhan's Shish Kebab, Ranch 1 and others, to pull out from the mall. Simon Properties and un-named co-owners of the Mall at the Source defaulted on a $124 million balloon interest-only mortgage in March 2009.[2]
Contents
History
The site of The Mall at the Source was originally Roosevelt Field Aerodrome, with Charles Lindbergh taking off on his epic trans-Atlantic flight near the site of the mall's parking garage. 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 and include Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. 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), which developed their portion to include a Kmart (now Walmart).
Aside from the internal eclecticism of the mall, it is the heart of dozens of other surrounding stores including Costco, California Pizza Kitchen, Best Buy, and Sports Authority. Off the property adjacent to the mall is a Target, Home Depot, AMC Loews Theatres, Sprint store, and various restaurant chains.[3]
The mall was also the first on Long Island to house clothing chains H&M, Old Navy, Nordstrom Rack, and Off 5th. It was also the first to house restaurants including The Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang's China Bistro, and Rainforest Cafe (closed on 19 October 2000)[4].
Nordstrom Rack has announced plans to leave The Mall at the Source in late 2012 and move to The Gallery at Westbury Plaza 1/4 mile west. [5]
Layout
The Mall at the Source is 2 floors and is shaped like an L. Because of this, the mall has separate "courts", named after the stores that anchor it (except for Center Court). Each anchor store has 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 include, Nordstrom Rack, P. F. Chang's China Bistro, Old Navy, and Famous Footwear. The center court is also where the former Steve and Barry's was. Cold Stone Creamery is also in the Center Court, but unlike the other stores in the Center Court, Cold Stone Creamery does not have a mall entrance.
- 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 Saks Off 5th. The 1st floor has a Dave & Buster's, and it also contained the former Circuit City.
- Fortunoff Court
Like the Off 5th Saks Court, the Fortunoff FINE JEWELRY 1300 OLD COUNTRY RD WESTBURY NY FEBRUARY 2012 COMING SOON OPENNING Court is a long hall, ending with the former Fortunoff 1300 OLD COUNTRY RD WESTBURY NY 11590 FINE JEWELRY FEBRUARY 2012 COMING SOON OPENNING. It also has the 2nd floor entrance to former Ayhan's Shish Kebab and The Cheesecake Factory. The 1st floor contains Golf Galaxy, David's Bridal, Men's Wearhouse and Tux and Gymboree Play & Music. There are no elevators that provide direct access to the Fortunoff court, so one must use the Center Court, Saks Off 5th Court or the parking deck elevator to get down to the Fortunoff court. The 2nd floor features stores including Payless Shoe Source, Gap Outlet, and Pac Sun Outlet.
References
External links
Coordinates: 40°44′41″N 73°35′41″W / 40.744656°N 73.594838°W
Categories:- Shopping malls in Nassau County, New York
- Simon Property Group
- Shopping malls established in 1997
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