Sunrise Mall nearly empty 4 years after buyer said revamp was coming
An aerial view of the Sunrise Mall parking lot on Jan. 21. The Massapequa mall is nearly empty save for Macy’s, which will close in a few months, and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas
The real estate partnership that bought Sunrise Mall in Massapequa at a steep discount in 2020 had said it would redevelop the long-struggling property.
But four years later, not only has a revamp not taken place, the mall also is nearly empty, following a halt to tenant lease renewals in 2022.
When Macy’s closes within a few months, the only tenant left will be Dick’s Sporting Goods.
The redevelopment plan for the mall still has not been finalized but the Macy’s exit will create more opportunities to revamp the property, according to an official with Sunrise Mall Holdings LLC, the joint venture that bought the mall in 2020.
“Macy’s, by virtue of being the largest tenant at the mall, had the most control over what other things could happen on the property. So, as a result of them leaving ... we have some more flexibility,” said Jeffrey S. Mooallem, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Urban Edge Properties, a Manhattan-based real estate investment trust that is the managing member of the ownership group, with an 82.5% interest.
The COVID-19 pandemic and high interest rates for the costs of construction projects and supplies were among the factors that extended the timeline to redevelop the mall, said Gene Spiegelman, an official in the partnership.
Sunrise Mall Holdings is working through several different plans for redevelopment, Mooallem said. The partnership group did not provide details but hopes to make an announcement this year, he said.
Rumors have abounded for years about the mall's fate, including the property possibly being turned into a warehouse or a mixed-use apartment and retail development.
Recent social media posts claimed the property was sold to Northwell Health, the largest health system in the state. Mooallem disputed that.
“We have not sold it. There is no current plan … to sell the property,” said Mooallem, who didn’t rule out that a sale could happen in the future.
“This is a large piece of land, so it does not necessarily have to be just one thing. There are ... different components of it that could be developed, different components could be sold, different uses,” he said.
The Town of Oyster Bay is eagerly awaiting the redevelopment plans for the mall, Supervisor Joseph Saladino said in an emailed statement Jan. 17.
"While Urban Edge Properties, the site's owner, has indicated that the future may include warehouse space and retail, the Town has not yet received formal plans. The developer has assured the community that housing will not be part of the proposal," he said.
Oyster Bay’s zoning laws limit development activity at Sunrise Mall to light industrial and commercial uses only. Residential development would require the town board to approve a zoning change.
Urban Edge said in 2022 that the developer was not considering any proposal that would seek to redevelop the site as a residential community.
Asked a week ago whether the mall could be converted to housing, Mooallem said, “I can’t comment on what will be in it when we make the proposals but there’s no current plan to propose housing.”
Urban Edge’s partners in Sunrise Mall Holdings are Sagamore Hill Partners, a Manhattan-based real estate investment firm affiliated with Woodbury-based Ripco Real Estate, and J.G. Petrucci Co. Inc., an Asbury, New Jersey-based company that is an "established developer of industrial assets."
In December 2020, Sunrise Mall Holdings paid $29.7 million to buy the 1.2 million-square-foot mall, which sits on 77 acres, from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, a Paris-based company.
The sales price was a steep decline from the $143 million the property sold for in 2005, a reflection of the mall's declining vibrancy. (Adjusted for inflation, that amount would have been $189.5 million in 2020.)
When it was sold in 2020, the mall had a high vacancy rate of 35%, according to Urban Edge. Besides Macy’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods, the mall's anchor tenants included Sears, HomeGoods and Dave & Buster’s. Many of the other stores were small, independent retailers.
In February 2022, when there were about 50 tenants left at the mall, Urban Edge announced that tenants’ leases would no longer be renewed, “setting the stage for the company to evaluate options for its redevelopment.”
On Jan. 9, Macy’s Inc. announced it would close 66 stores, including the location at Sunrise Mall and two Macy’s Backstage off-price stores on Long Island, mostly in the first quarter of 2025. The closings are part of the Macy’s plan, announced in February, to close about 150 “underproductive” stores by fiscal year 2026 to help improve sales growth, the Manhattan-based retailer said.
Macy’s, which occupies 208,078 square feet split among three floors at Sunrise Mall, did not respond to a request for comment.
Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc., based in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, did not respond to a request for comment about whether it plans to keep its store open at Sunrise Mall.
When Sunrise Mall opened on Aug. 30, 1973, the $45 million project housed 135 stores and was the first multilevel, enclosed retail center on Long Island, according to Newsday archives. Macy’s, which opened the same day as the mall, joined two other anchors — department stores Gertz and Korvettes — which had opened earlier in the month. A fourth anchor, JCPenney, opened in October 1973.
Sunrise Mall used to be a big draw on Long Island, but for at least five years before the pandemic started in 2020, the property had become a victim of the so-called “retail apocalypse,” the mass closings of brick-and-mortar stores challenged by growing online sales, said Spiegelman, a principal in Sagamore Hill Partners and Ripco.
The pandemic, which led to several months of state-mandated mall closings to help stop the spread of the virus, exacerbated the woes of Sunrise Mall, he said.
“COVID was the nail in the coffin,” Spiegelman said.
While the revamp of Sunrise Mall has been slow to start, redevelopments estimated to cost at least $100 million each have been announced in the last year for two other Long Island retail properties — Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream and The Shops on Broadway, formerly called Broadway Commons, in Hicksville.
It has taken longer to plan for Sunrise Mall’s revamp because the property is at more of a disadvantage because of the lack of financial investment in it, Spiegelman said.
“This property was in worse condition," he said, adding it did not have the traffic or the sales the other malls had.
The real estate partnership that bought Sunrise Mall in Massapequa at a steep discount in 2020 had said it would redevelop the long-struggling property.
But four years later, not only has a revamp not taken place, the mall also is nearly empty, following a halt to tenant lease renewals in 2022.
When Macy’s closes within a few months, the only tenant left will be Dick’s Sporting Goods.
The redevelopment plan for the mall still has not been finalized but the Macy’s exit will create more opportunities to revamp the property, according to an official with Sunrise Mall Holdings LLC, the joint venture that bought the mall in 2020.
“Macy’s, by virtue of being the largest tenant at the mall, had the most control over what other things could happen on the property. So, as a result of them leaving ... we have some more flexibility,” said Jeffrey S. Mooallem, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Urban Edge Properties, a Manhattan-based real estate investment trust that is the managing member of the ownership group, with an 82.5% interest.
The COVID-19 pandemic and high interest rates for the costs of construction projects and supplies were among the factors that extended the timeline to redevelop the mall, said Gene Spiegelman, an official in the partnership.
Sunrise Mall Holdings is working through several different plans for redevelopment, Mooallem said. The partnership group did not provide details but hopes to make an announcement this year, he said.
Rumors have abounded for years about the mall's fate, including the property possibly being turned into a warehouse or a mixed-use apartment and retail development.
Recent social media posts claimed the property was sold to Northwell Health, the largest health system in the state. Mooallem disputed that.
“We have not sold it. There is no current plan … to sell the property,” said Mooallem, who didn’t rule out that a sale could happen in the future.
“This is a large piece of land, so it does not necessarily have to be just one thing. There are ... different components of it that could be developed, different components could be sold, different uses,” he said.
The Town of Oyster Bay is eagerly awaiting the redevelopment plans for the mall, Supervisor Joseph Saladino said in an emailed statement Jan. 17.
"While Urban Edge Properties, the site's owner, has indicated that the future may include warehouse space and retail, the Town has not yet received formal plans. The developer has assured the community that housing will not be part of the proposal," he said.
Oyster Bay’s zoning laws limit development activity at Sunrise Mall to light industrial and commercial uses only. Residential development would require the town board to approve a zoning change.
Urban Edge said in 2022 that the developer was not considering any proposal that would seek to redevelop the site as a residential community.
Asked a week ago whether the mall could be converted to housing, Mooallem said, “I can’t comment on what will be in it when we make the proposals but there’s no current plan to propose housing.”
Evaluating revamp options
Urban Edge’s partners in Sunrise Mall Holdings are Sagamore Hill Partners, a Manhattan-based real estate investment firm affiliated with Woodbury-based Ripco Real Estate, and J.G. Petrucci Co. Inc., an Asbury, New Jersey-based company that is an "established developer of industrial assets."
In December 2020, Sunrise Mall Holdings paid $29.7 million to buy the 1.2 million-square-foot mall, which sits on 77 acres, from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, a Paris-based company.
The sales price was a steep decline from the $143 million the property sold for in 2005, a reflection of the mall's declining vibrancy. (Adjusted for inflation, that amount would have been $189.5 million in 2020.)
When it was sold in 2020, the mall had a high vacancy rate of 35%, according to Urban Edge. Besides Macy’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods, the mall's anchor tenants included Sears, HomeGoods and Dave & Buster’s. Many of the other stores were small, independent retailers.
In February 2022, when there were about 50 tenants left at the mall, Urban Edge announced that tenants’ leases would no longer be renewed, “setting the stage for the company to evaluate options for its redevelopment.”
Customers exit the Macy’s department store at the Sunrise Mall in Massapequa on Jan. 21. Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas
On Jan. 9, Macy’s Inc. announced it would close 66 stores, including the location at Sunrise Mall and two Macy’s Backstage off-price stores on Long Island, mostly in the first quarter of 2025. The closings are part of the Macy’s plan, announced in February, to close about 150 “underproductive” stores by fiscal year 2026 to help improve sales growth, the Manhattan-based retailer said.
Macy’s, which occupies 208,078 square feet split among three floors at Sunrise Mall, did not respond to a request for comment.
Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc., based in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, did not respond to a request for comment about whether it plans to keep its store open at Sunrise Mall.
'In worse condition'
When Sunrise Mall opened on Aug. 30, 1973, the $45 million project housed 135 stores and was the first multilevel, enclosed retail center on Long Island, according to Newsday archives. Macy’s, which opened the same day as the mall, joined two other anchors — department stores Gertz and Korvettes — which had opened earlier in the month. A fourth anchor, JCPenney, opened in October 1973.
Sunrise Mall used to be a big draw on Long Island, but for at least five years before the pandemic started in 2020, the property had become a victim of the so-called “retail apocalypse,” the mass closings of brick-and-mortar stores challenged by growing online sales, said Spiegelman, a principal in Sagamore Hill Partners and Ripco.
The pandemic, which led to several months of state-mandated mall closings to help stop the spread of the virus, exacerbated the woes of Sunrise Mall, he said.
“COVID was the nail in the coffin,” Spiegelman said.
While the revamp of Sunrise Mall has been slow to start, redevelopments estimated to cost at least $100 million each have been announced in the last year for two other Long Island retail properties — Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream and The Shops on Broadway, formerly called Broadway Commons, in Hicksville.
It has taken longer to plan for Sunrise Mall’s revamp because the property is at more of a disadvantage because of the lack of financial investment in it, Spiegelman said.
“This property was in worse condition," he said, adding it did not have the traffic or the sales the other malls had.
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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