DEWITT, N.Y. (NCC News) — The shuttered ShoppingTown Mall may be no more. After a DeWitt town board public hearing Monday night, the redevelopment of the vacant building of over three years could break ground soon.
Central New Yorkers miss the charm and family-friendly fun provided by ShoppingTown, which closed its doors in March 2020. Especially during the holiday season, when many “used to always go and get our Christmas pictures taken there,” such as Cicero native Hailey Lawless. “That was a big thing in my family. That was like one of my core memories.”
But ShoppingTown’s become a distant memory for many like Lawless’ family. One of CNY’s first enclosed shopping malls shuttered because of issues with low occupancy and the rise of e-commerce. While online shopping has made it much easier, ShoppingTown also put customers at ease, as “the movie theater was convenient” said Fayetteville’s Jack Gordon. “You pop in, you pop out. Not too busy. They had good restaurants and shops. And then, boom. Gone.”
The boom eventually pushed Onondaga County to take ownership of the property last year. With it, the plan was to sell ShoppingTown to a local development group. On Monday, DeWitt officials came one step closer to a deal after an agreement on rezoning to eventually turn the property into a $400 million mixed-use facility called “District East.” Central New Yorkers don’t want to see the same mall reemerge, but instead it “become more of like a strip mall,” said Lawless. “Kind of like what they’ve done out in Camillus and what they’re planning on doing with Great Northern. Destiny, a lot of people think it’s unsafe. And I think part of that has to do with it being a large enclosed space.”
The need for a “pedestrian friendly community” according to Deputy Supervisor Kerry Mannion, is apparent. DeWitt natives agree, saying it’d be nice to have “lots of areas for people to hang out and then have those businesses around,” said Tyler Aitken. “Oh, you get hungry? You can go somewhere. Oh, you want to grab a drink? You can go somewhere.”
Talk of ShoppingTown’s eventual demolition has been speculated since Onondaga County took ownership of the mall over a year ago. While CNY natives would appreciate District East and the residential, retail, office and entertainment options it’s set to provide, they have doubt. Their reason? Lack of progress on other local multi-million dollar projects. “I think this also applies to the aquarium they’re trying to build,” said Lawless. “I do not think that’ll become an actual thing. So I guess we’ll have to see how this plays out.”
