News story made available courtesy of Poughkeepsie Journal

Mall site plans will be reviewed Thursday

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

By Craig Wolf
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com

WAPPINGERS FALLS - Owners of the South Hills Mall are asking for final site plan approval Thursday for an overhaul of the mall involving partial demolition and reconstruction.

Some tenants of the portions to be knocked down, meanwhile, have been told they may have to vacate their spaces by September, said one who's gotten that word and has been looking for space elsewhere.

Vornado Realty Trust owns the Town of Poughkeepsie mall, which has several solid anchor stores that will remain, but there are more vacancies than occupancies among the other spaces. It's on the agenda of the town planning board Thursday, which meets at 6:30 p.m. at town hall, Overocker Road.

Arvi Kohli, whose Jewelry Annex has been a fixture at the mall for 26 years, said Monday he had been told a month ago by a Vornado leasing agent he and others will have to move out by the end of September, assuming all approvals for the mall overhaul come in on time.

"People have been told to look for space," Kohli said.

David Livshin, president of Dagar Group, a Fishkill-based commercial leasing and management group, said he sees "a lot of activity" by mall tenants looking for spaces nearby.

On the hunt for a new space

One tenant has signed for a new space and "at least six" are searching, Livshin said. He's also heard many have been told to leave by September.

Arthur Philips, regional manager of Vornado malls, declined to comment on the move-out advisory, saying he wasn't sure "how our leasing people are going to be handling it" and adding, "We may know more after Thursday."

Vornado proposes to knock down 229,000 square feet of the main building, rebuild part of it, add 50,000 square feet of new separate buildings and upgrade the parking lot.

The idea is to eliminate the interior covered mall walkway and redesign the building for a variety of store sizes from a few thousand square feet up to about 50,000, according to plans given to the town and a version posted on Vornado's Web site.

John Weisman, chairman of the planners, said most of the outstanding concerns of members or consultants were not major. Vornado may or may not get final approval Thursday, he said. But he noted most public feedback had been positive.

"They're putting $65 million back into the mall and making it a destination where people would want to go again," he said.