Green Acres Mall revamp to include adding ShopRite, demolishing former Sears
Up to 400,000 square feet of space would be redeveloped at Green Acres Mall in a project that would bring a ShopRite supermarket and other new stores to the Valley Stream property. Credit: Macerich Co.
A major revamp of Green Acres Mall would bring a ShopRite supermarket, outside dining, a modified streetscape with outdoor entrances for new tenants and other changes to the Valley Stream property.
With up to 400,000 square feet of redevelopment, the project would include the construction of a freestanding 80,000-square-foot ShopRite on what is now a parking area and demolition of the former Sears and Sears Auto stores, which would be replaced with landscaped open spaces, dining terraces/amenity spaces and parking, according to The Macerich Co., the Santa Monica, California-based real estate investment trust that owns the mall.
Also, the former Kohl’s and adjacent shop space would be converted to new stores and restaurants with outside entrances, according to Cory Scott, Macerich’s executive vice president of asset management.
The plan includes the addition of an entrance for the mall’s northeast wing, Macerich said.
“At Macerich, we know the key to long-term success for our top properties — including our high-visibility, 100-acre Green Acres campus — is to add exciting new uses along with great design elements that encourage more people to spend more time with us. That is precisely what we are doing at Green Acres,” Scott said in a statement Thursday.
Macerich declined to disclose the estimated cost of the project or when construction is expected to begin and end.
The project requires building approvals from the Town of Hempstead, and that process will start this spring, Scott said.
The ShopRite lease has been submitted to the Hempstead Industrial Development Agency for approval, he said. The IDA holds the title to the mall under a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, or PILOT, established in 2015. So, the IDA has to approve all leases at the mall.
The ShopRite would be operated by Glass Gardens Inc., a family-owned business that operates 11 ShopRite stores in New Jersey and New York.
“We ... look forward to providing a full-service supermarket experience to the greater Valley Stream community,” Terry Glass, co-CEO and co-president of Glass Gardens, said in the Macerich statement.
Located on Sunrise Highway, Green Acres Mall was built in 1956 and bought by Macerich in 2013.
Macerich in 2016 added an adjacent shopping center, Green Acres Commons, whose tenants include BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, Ulta, 24 Hour Fitness, Dick’s Sporting Goods, HomeGoods and Aldi.
The mall and shopping center total 2.06 million square feet.
The combined former Sears and Sears Auto buildings are 144,000 square feet, and the former Kohl’s space is 116,000 square feet.
As department stores nationwide increasingly have struggled, the mall has lost several anchors over the past several years, including Sears and Sears Auto in 2021, JCPenney and off-price store Century 21 in 2020 and Kohl’s in 2019.
Some replacement tenants have filled large vacancies, such as discounter Shoppers World opening a 73,000-square-foot, two-level location in Century 21’s former space in 2021. Irish “value retailer” Primark opened a two-level, 35,100-square-foot store in a portion of the former JCPenney space last June.
Macy’s is also an anchor in the mall.
The changes planned for Green Acres are similar to Macerich’s leasing approach to its Kings Plaza property in Brooklyn, where a Target, Primark, Zara and Burlington have opened in a former Sears spot since 2018, the company said.
“We understand the retail landscape and our shoppers in the Metro New York City area — and we know that our opportunities to elevate Green Acres Mall are sizable. This is particularly true given there are no major retail areas within a four-mile radius of the property, which encompasses upscale suburbs, densely populated parts of New York City and an ideal location on Sunrise Highway where more than 60,000 cars drive by daily,” Eric Bunyan, Macerich senior vice president, said in a statement.
Macerich said Green Acres is its second most-visited center, accounting for more than $1 billion in annual sales.
Correction: An earlier version of this story contained incorrect details about the planned location of a new ShopRite store.
A major revamp of Green Acres Mall would bring a ShopRite supermarket, outside dining, a modified streetscape with outdoor entrances for new tenants and other changes to the Valley Stream property.
With up to 400,000 square feet of redevelopment, the project would include the construction of a freestanding 80,000-square-foot ShopRite on what is now a parking area and demolition of the former Sears and Sears Auto stores, which would be replaced with landscaped open spaces, dining terraces/amenity spaces and parking, according to The Macerich Co., the Santa Monica, California-based real estate investment trust that owns the mall.
Also, the former Kohl’s and adjacent shop space would be converted to new stores and restaurants with outside entrances, according to Cory Scott, Macerich’s executive vice president of asset management.
The plan includes the addition of an entrance for the mall’s northeast wing, Macerich said.
“At Macerich, we know the key to long-term success for our top properties — including our high-visibility, 100-acre Green Acres campus — is to add exciting new uses along with great design elements that encourage more people to spend more time with us. That is precisely what we are doing at Green Acres,” Scott said in a statement Thursday.
Macerich declined to disclose the estimated cost of the project or when construction is expected to begin and end.
The project requires building approvals from the Town of Hempstead, and that process will start this spring, Scott said.
The project will include the addition of outdoor dining and green spaces, the mall's owner said. Credit: Macerich Co.
The ShopRite lease has been submitted to the Hempstead Industrial Development Agency for approval, he said. The IDA holds the title to the mall under a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, or PILOT, established in 2015. So, the IDA has to approve all leases at the mall.
The ShopRite would be operated by Glass Gardens Inc., a family-owned business that operates 11 ShopRite stores in New Jersey and New York.
“We ... look forward to providing a full-service supermarket experience to the greater Valley Stream community,” Terry Glass, co-CEO and co-president of Glass Gardens, said in the Macerich statement.
'Opportunities to elevate'
Located on Sunrise Highway, Green Acres Mall was built in 1956 and bought by Macerich in 2013.
Macerich in 2016 added an adjacent shopping center, Green Acres Commons, whose tenants include BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, Ulta, 24 Hour Fitness, Dick’s Sporting Goods, HomeGoods and Aldi.
The mall and shopping center total 2.06 million square feet.
The combined former Sears and Sears Auto buildings are 144,000 square feet, and the former Kohl’s space is 116,000 square feet.
As department stores nationwide increasingly have struggled, the mall has lost several anchors over the past several years, including Sears and Sears Auto in 2021, JCPenney and off-price store Century 21 in 2020 and Kohl’s in 2019.
Some replacement tenants have filled large vacancies, such as discounter Shoppers World opening a 73,000-square-foot, two-level location in Century 21’s former space in 2021. Irish “value retailer” Primark opened a two-level, 35,100-square-foot store in a portion of the former JCPenney space last June.
Macy’s is also an anchor in the mall.
The changes planned for Green Acres are similar to Macerich’s leasing approach to its Kings Plaza property in Brooklyn, where a Target, Primark, Zara and Burlington have opened in a former Sears spot since 2018, the company said.
“We understand the retail landscape and our shoppers in the Metro New York City area — and we know that our opportunities to elevate Green Acres Mall are sizable. This is particularly true given there are no major retail areas within a four-mile radius of the property, which encompasses upscale suburbs, densely populated parts of New York City and an ideal location on Sunrise Highway where more than 60,000 cars drive by daily,” Eric Bunyan, Macerich senior vice president, said in a statement.
Macerich said Green Acres is its second most-visited center, accounting for more than $1 billion in annual sales.
Correction: An earlier version of this story contained incorrect details about the planned location of a new ShopRite store.
Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.
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