The , often referred to as the '''Palisades Mall''', in
West Nyack, New York is the largest
Shopping Mall in the
New York City metropolitan area.
The mall is operated by mall general manager Peter Janoff for the
Pyramid Companies , the original developer and current owner.
The mall is located west of
NY Route 303 , south of exit 12 of the
New York State Thruway (
I-87 and
I-287 ), and north of
NY Route 59 . It is the second-largest mall in the
United States in terms of gross area at 3,500,000 square feet (325,000 m²), and
Third-largest In Terms Of Leaseable Retail Space (the
Mall Of America and the
King Of Prussia Mall are larger). It is named after the nearby
Palisades , which border the
Hudson River and the eastern part of
Rockland County .
The mall has four levels, each of which is approximately the shape of a rectangle. Its anchor stores include
Barnes & Noble ,
BJ's Wholesale Club ,
Filene’s (soon to be
Macy's ),
Home Depot ,
JC Penney ,
Lord & Taylor ,
Circuit City ,
Best Buy , and
Target .
An
Ice Rink is located at the east (Filene's) end of the fourth level, and an
IMAX Theater is located alongside a stadium-seating 21-screen
Loews Movie Theater near the west (Target) end.
There are several dining options throughout the mall. On the first floor are The
Cheesecake Factory , which replaced an
Amazon Cafe , and Aromi D'italia, The food court in the center of the third level contains a
Carousel and a
Ferris Wheel as well as over a dozen restaurants. The fourth floor, also called the ThEATery (a portmanteau of "theater" and "eatery"), includes several
Casual Dining restaurants, such as
T.G.I. Friday's ,
Chili's ,
Stir Crazy ,
Fox Sports Grill ,
Legal Sea Foods and
Dave And Buster's . As of mid-February 2006,
Romano's Macaroni Grill , which had been a mall tenant since its opening, had closed (a Mexican restaurant seems to be going in).
Probably the most striking thing about Palisades' tenant mix is finding Home Depot and BJ's Wholesale Club, two merchants that typically are not found within other shopping malls. Though they share the same building as the rest of the mall, there is no way for the public to access BJ's or Home Depot directly from the interior of the mall proper.
In addition to hosting such non-traditional tenants, the Palisades Center has been the first location for several new concepts, including an Opus entertainment venue and several specialty boutiques. On
August 24 ,
2005 , a
Forth & Towne location opened in the Palisades Center, the first store of this type to open anywhere. The clothing store is the first location in the newest chain of stores to be operated by
Gap Inc. Its selection is targeted at fashion-conscious middle-aged women.
The Palisades Center mall was constructed on the former site of
Dexter Press (a famous and long-time printer of postcards), a bowling alley, a car dealership, and a landfill, adjacent to a swampy area of Route 59 frequently prone to flooding from the nearby
Hackensack River .
When the mall was first planned in the 1980's, the developers hoped to lure upscale anchors. However, somewhere between town board approval, and grand opening, these plans changed. Public areas that were to be "finished" gave way to the mall's current decor of exposed steel beams, concrete floors, and bright splashes of color and neon.
Many speculate that the Palisades Center was constructed too hastily, for it has many apparent quirks. Along with the rides and ice rink on the fourth floor, the original plan for the mall was much larger and included a
Roller Coaster . The pink tracks can be seen on the fourth floor but the cars were never added.
The original plan for the mall was cut down somewhat due to opposition from people in the Town of Clarkstown. Some believed that traffic would clog the nearby small roads, and to satisfy them the mall plan was scaled down, and certain turns to and from mall roads were made illegal. The purpose of these signs is to keep traffic off local streets and direct it on to highways, such as Routes 303 and 59 and the
New York State Thruway . Local residents routinely ignore these signs due to inconvenience.
A 2002 referendum to expand the mall was voted down. The "expansion" would have been to finish unused space on the 3rd and 4th floors at the Filene's end of the mall. At the time of the vote, there was an "empty space walking tour" that one could take.
There is a rumor that the mall is sinking. Long-time residents of West Nyack have claimed that the mall was built over a swamp. Many believe that the foundation was not stabilized prior to the construction of the mall and the mall is slowly sinking into the swamp. The proponents of the "sinking" theory point to the cracks in the cement floors, particularly in the now-carpeted first floor, the holes which appear next to support columns in the semiannually repaved underground parking garage, and also in the way the mall often shakes. However it is also possible that the "sinking" theory is an
Urban Legend , as similar tall tales are told about many colleges and libraries across the United States, and were told about several other Pyramid Malls, like the
Poughkeepsie Galleria and its parking deck.
In late 1998,
Rosie O'Donnell , who lives in Nyack, shared her town's gossip about the mall on
Her TV Show . Soon afterwards,
Thomas J. Valenti , one of the mall's builders appeared on her show to address the problem, and promised the mall was not sinking (even singing a song he had composed to this effect). Pyramid has said on numerous occasions that the mall is perfectly sound and stable, and is not sinking.
Valenti suggested that the rumors could have been started by competitors or local residents who opposed the mall.
The Palisades Center was built around the Mount Moor Cemetery, a 150-year-old burial ground for African-Americans, including many black veterans. The cemetery is on the south side of the mall, next to the parking deck.
