Listen to this articleAfter years of speculation on the future of the Sunrise Mall, the property’s owners have made a first move towards its redevelopment.
The Massapequa mall’s majority owner Manhattan-based Urban Edge Properties applied to the Nassau County Planning Commission last week for subdivision approval in advance of its planned reimagining of the 77-acre site.
While no plans have yet been revealed for the property’s redevelopment, real estate industry sources say e-commerce giant Amazon is considering locating a last-mile distribution facility there to service the South Shore.
When asked about the subdivision application, an Urban Edge spokesman said: “The application now before the Nassau County Planning Commission is a procedural process designed to subdivide parcels for future uses at the property. Any development applications for those uses will be submitted to the appropriate governing bodies with applicable notice and opportunity for public comment.”
Urban Edge, Sagamore Hill Partners and JG Petrucci bought the property from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield for $29.7 million plus $6 million in “additional contingent consideration,” in Dec. 2020, according to the company. Westfield paid $143 million for the property in 2005.
The two-story, 1.2 million-square-foot shopping mall was about 65 percent occupied when it was acquired by its current owner, and it is now almost vacant. Dick’s Sporting Goods is the mall’s last remaining tenant after Macy’s closed its 208,000-square-foot store there earlier this year.
The Sunrise Mall property is zoned as light industrial, which can accommodate many business uses and its ownership has been tight lipped about plans for a reboot, though housing development has been ruled out.
When asked about the company’s plans three years ago, Coleen Conklin, vice president of marketing for Urban Edge said: “Sunrise Mall is clearly in transition, a reflection of the challenges facing a generation of shopping malls across Long Island and the nation. To ensure it remains a positive and contributing economic anchor for the surrounding communities, the Town of Oyster Bay and Nassau County, we need to create an orderly roadmap for that transition.”
Developed by the Muss-Tankoos Corporation and first opened in August 1973, the Sunrise Mall had been a retail mecca for Massapequa and the surrounding area. It was originally anchored by JCPenney, Macy’s, Gertz and E.J. Korvette and more than 140 smaller tenants.
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