Vacant CNY Mall to be Transformed into It's Own Small Town

Onondaga County officials have announced plans to revamp an empty mall, breathing life into the deserted ShoppingTown Mall in DeWitt. The 750,000-square-foot shopping center closed because of the coronavirus pandemic and never re-opened (See photos of the abandoned ShoppingTown Mall in our gallery below!)

County Executive Ryan McMahon shared the news Wednesday, that the county has sold the more than 60-acre property for $8 million dollars to an LLC consisting of four-area businesses, which plan to pump another $300 million into the site to transform the former mall into housing, entertainment, restaurant, hospitality and business districts. It will be rebranded District East, officials said.

The sale includes the acreage, the mall (750,000 square feet) and a pair of outbuildings, reports Syracuse.com. The outlet broke down the county's financial stake in the property this way:

Onondaga County bought the shuttered mall on Dec. 30 for $3.5 million from Moonbeam Capital. It also waived nearly $10 million in back taxes, plus $3 million in interest and late fees, on the mall.
The purchase was part of a settlement the county reached with Moonbeam, which filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2020 to fend off the county’s efforts to seize the mall for unpaid property taxes going back to 2015.

The purchasing entity is called OHB Redev LLC, consisting of Redev CNY, Hueber-Breuer Construction, DalPos Architects, and Housing Visions. About half of the mall will be demolished and two new towers constructed, consisting of 450-500 housing units, a combination of apartments and condos, McMahon and OHB officials announced.

Take a look at these photos below, taken recently of the abandoned ShoppingTown Mall in Dewitt.

Take A Look Inside The Abandoned ShoppingTown Mall In Dewitt, NY

Onondaga County currently owns the ShoppingTown Mall located in Dewitt New York near the Syracuse area. As of today, the mall is abandoned. The future of the building will go to someone who has the best vision for it. Onondaga County has issued an official request for proposals (RFP) for ShoppingTown Mall. The property will be resold to the buyer with the best plan for revitalizing the vacant property.

Proposers will need to have a demonstrated history of producing "high quality projects," according to the statement. They will also need to produce financial information related to the project."

Jordan Harmon was able to tour the property and take plenty of photos recently with permission from Onondaga County:

The main purpose of this shoot was to document this historical structure before any alterations occur. I grew up with this mall, I can remember coming here as a kid. This was the place my family did our back to school shopping and the place where I’d blow my allowance at Fun Junction playing laser tag. To see it now is shocking to say the least. The former owner of the mall clearly made no effort to maintain it, let alone stop the hundreds of leaks in the roof.

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