Business & Tech

Part 4: Nanuet Mall to Become 'The Shops at Nanuet' with a Main Street [VIDEO]

This is the last of a 4-part series. Click on the links in the article to see the first three

Wednesday night was an informational meeting between the Clarkstown Planning Board and Simon Property Group, Inc. Simon revealed their plans, walked through the plans and took questions from town officials. Since this was an informational meeting, no questions were taken from the public.

Read about the meeting’s outcome in a 4-part series on Patch yesterday and today. Yesterday, the Patch article went over the and the . Check that first article for pictures from the meeting. This morning's article looked at . This article will look at Access during and after construction.

Access During Construction

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“Our two department stores are operating and we understand that there is a need to make sure that the bus service is safe and still available,” said Sam Fattah, vice president of project management. “We’re hoping to move the Sears lot along the ring road so that it’s an easy walk from the shelter to the Sears’ entrance. We’re hoping to move this other (bus shelter closer to Macy’s) so that there’s a better connection to Macy’s. This is during demo and construction.”

A fence will be put up around the entire demolition area.

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“We’re of course maintaining as much of the pedestrian access as we can,” added Fattah. “Around the fence we will have a walkway with the Jersey barriers. From the bus stop on Route 59 … we’re going to provide a temporary crossing … that allows people to walk from 59 to the sidewalk area and then walk from there down to Sears. We’re going to maintain access from Middletown Road over to Macy’s.”

“We will be closing off one entryway … with the relocation of Banchetto (Feast),” said Dwayne Furukawa, regional vice president of development for Simon, pointing to the site border along Middletown Road.

Access After Completion

There is a connection from Route 59 to the sidewalk, which is not depicted on this (bird’s eye) drawing,” said Fattah. “We also have pedestrian access to Macy’s … we’re trying to follow the (parking) islands.”

“It’s still a work in progress. We’ll be meeting with the technical advisory committee to refine and finalize the pedestrian access.”

There is a connector building that the developers, “for lack of a better word right now,” are referring to as the glass cube or spine. On the map, it’s a skinny sliver between Macy’s the movie theater.

“The cinema entrance is actually off the spine … this spine would have a combination of stairs, escalators and elevators … You would have access to Macy’s on both levels (of the glass spine)

Sears is two levels still, but access will only be from the ground level.”

Question from the Clarkstown: Are there any line of sight issues with Main Street, specifically at the 3-way intersection located at Main Street’s ‘L’ curve and the street that hugs the northern part of Sears?

“We do have a traffic plan with all the stop signs,” said Fattah. “The line of sight is less than it appears because the sidewalk is actually very deep in this area. I believe it’s a 20-foot sidewalk right there.”

Comments from the Public:

“This is the same proposal they had about a year ago except this time, there’s no housing project,” said Rob Hannes. “There was talk of senior housing and low-income housing before. And they were going to do (something similar to) Woodbury Commons. It’s election time and I think the supervisor is just trying to make himself look good.”

“Speaking for myself as a 31-year resident of Nanuet, I am thrilled that Simon has finally showed us their plans,” said Roberta Bangs, vice president of the Nanuet Civic Association. “It’s really going to happen and within two years, the mall will be open and flourishing again.”

More information?

After they’re finalized, renderings of all the drawings shown last night will soon be at the Planning Board office at Town Hall. Also, come to the next Nanuet Civic Association meeting at 7:15 p.m. Nov. 3 at the Nanuet Library’s community room where this topic will be discussed. Simon is on the tentative schedule for the Planning Department’s Nov. 30 meeting.

Read about the meeting’s outcome in a 4-part series. Later today, there will be the fourth article on access during construction and after completion.


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