Yankees, Victoria’s Secret Opening in Bay Plaza
By Michael Horowitz
BRONX, NEW YORK, AUGUST 15- The Bay Plaza shopping center’s new wing, which has been in the planning stage for years, opened on Thursday morning.
Portions of the new mall, including its spanking new Macy’s, were still under construction by the middle of this week. Portions of the new mall will not be completed until next year.
The new mall, when it is fully completed, will be anchored by Macy’s at one end and a pre-existing JC Penney’s department store at the other end.
Stores in the new mall will ultimately include Victoria Secret Express, Swarovski Crystals, H&M, Michael Kors, and the Yankee Clubhouse.
Other chains that have signed leases to be at Bay Plaza include Zales Jewelers, Kay Jewelers, Matthew’s Jewelers, Cohen Optical, Bath & Body, Charlotte Rousse, Champs, Footlocker, Lid’s Hats, Joe’s Crab Shack, the Olive Garden, Red Robin, American Eagle Aeropostale, and Sprint.
The new Macy’s, which will be an anchor store for Bay Plaza’s new, enclosed mall, will comprise 160,000 square feet on its own.
The 780,000-square foot extension of Bay Plaza will mean that the shopping center, which is on the outskirts of Co-op City, will comprise close to two million square feet.
The price tag for the extension of the Bay Plaza mall is expected to approach $300 million. The new mall is expected to create 1,700 permanent jobs and to have parking for up 2,300 cars.
The extension of Bay Plaza’s new wing will be connected to the existing JC Penney store at Bay Plaza.
In recent months, those living in Co-op City and those driving by the community have seen the new wing of the shopping center rising on its southern end of the Bay Plaza shopping center.
The shopping center’s developers and elected officials have stressed that the impending of Bay Plaza’s new wing is an exciting development for the Bronx and Westchester.
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., among others, have touted the development of Bay Plaza’s new wing as a sign of progress in the Bronx and in the city as a whole.
Bay Plaza, which first opened in the mid-1980s and spans 1.3 million square feet, is already the largest mall in the Bronx.
When the new mall is completed, it will be attached to the current shopping center. The entire mall will be enclosed, making it the first mall of this kind in the Bronx.
“We are talking to all the major chains about coming to Bay Plaza,” Sam Shalem, CEO of Prestige Properties (the shopping center’s developer), has stressed. “This is just the kind of suburban mall this area needs.”
Shalem has said that he is confident that the enlarged mall will have major appeal to the more than four million people who live in close proximity to Co-op City.
Shalem has stated that he expects the new shopping center to attract those living in Westchester and southern Connecticut, as well as those living in neighborhoods through the Bronx.
