St. Lawrence Centre Mall (Massena NY)

[mikey7290]

I saw a report on the local TV station last night that the St. Lawrence Centre mall in Massena is trying to convince Target to open a store in the space that will soon be vacated by Steve & Barry's.  This store is about 80,000 square feet and was originally a Hills, then became Ames when they took over until the chain went out of business in 2002.  It was vacant until Steve & Barry's opened last Christmas.  Now after only a year, the store is closing.  Sad, but hopefully, Target will open in its place.  Then shoppers in my area won't have to drive an hour away to Watertown to shop at Target.

[Marc82]

Is there room to tear down the existing store and build a much larger one onto the site? 80,000 is very small. Targets are usually around 130,000 square feet or larger.

[mikey7290]

Originally posted by Marc82
Is there room to tear down the existing store and build a much larger one onto the site? 80,000 is very small. Targets are usually around 130,000 square feet or larger.

Yes, I think there is.  That's what Walmart planned to do a few years ago when they wanted to open their supercenter at the mall.  That was until the Hannaford in the shopping center nextdoor threatened to sue.  They claimed that when they first opened, the mall's original owners promised that no business that sold food items would ever locate in the mall.  The mall's current owners (General Growth Properties) told Hannaford that when they bought the mall, it made that clause in the lease void.  Regardless, Walmart dropped their plans and built their new supercenter over on Stephenville Rd., where the original Ames store once stood (along with P&C and Fay's Drugs.)