Poughkeepsie Galleria

Poughkeepsie Galleria

Inside by elevator in 2008
Location Poughkeepsie, New York, U.S.
Opening date August 1, 1987
Management The Pyramid Companies
Owner The Pyramid Companies
No. of stores and services 250
No. of anchor tenants 10
Total retail floor area 1,100,000 square feet (100,000 m2)
No. of floors 2
Parking 2000 spaces
Website Official site

The Poughkeepsie Galleria is a shopping mall on U.S. 9 in the Town of Poughkeepsie, New York, not far from Wappingers Falls, and is the biggest mall in New York's Hudson Valley region. The mall, which opened in 1987 after much controversy regarding its construction, has an area of 1,100,000-square-foot (100,000 m2) with two floors and 250 shops and restaurants as well as a 16-screen, stadium-seating Regal Cinema theater. Adjacent to the mall was the South Hills Mall, previously the dominant retail center of Dutchess County. The steady decline of patronage to the South Hills Mall came mostly as a result of the Galleria's Construction.

The mall is owned and managed by The Pyramid Companies, a group who also owns and manages regional sisters Galleria at Crystal Run in Middletown, Hudson Valley Mall in Kingston, and the Palisades Center in West Nyack. It has adopted the Pyramid corporate "MB-18" teenage curfew policy on weekend evenings, a policy that began in September 2005.

History

In the early 1980s, a proposal for a two story indoor mall in Poughkeepsie, New York was submitted. Despite much conflict and many protests, the proposal was submitted and the mall opened on August 1, 1987 as the Poughkeepsie Galleria mall.

The mall's grand opening included the following anchor stores: G. Fox and Co., Jordan Marsh, Lechmere, Steinbach and J.C. Penney. The mall also included dozens of smaller retailers, restaurants, a movie theater and a food court. One end of the food court was entirely enclosed by windows overlooking the parking lot with an escalator entrance leading near the cinemas. The mall was very family oriented, and had a red color scheme. It included big, colorful origami-like objects in center court by the stairs.

In 1991, the mall began construction on a two story addition adjacent to the food court. The space ultimately eliminated the window enclosure at end of the food court, despite receiving some criticism from many of the food retailers. The space was occupied by Montgomery Ward. Jordan Marsh went out of business; its space was taken over by Sears in 1992.

In 1994, G. Fox was taken over by Filene's, subsequently Macy*s in 2004. Steinbach also went out of business, and its space became Dick's Sporting Goods in October 1995, relocated to its current location, the 2nd floor at the end of the food court. Lechmere became defunct, and the space was divided into three separate stores, later becoming Best Buy, Old Navy and H&M.

In the early 2000s, the mall's red paint scheme was changed to bright green, and the large origami-like sculptures in center court were removed. Montgomery Ward went out of business and Dick's Sporting Goods moved into its space up in the food court. Target moved into the Dick's former location.

In January 2005, the mall announced it would begin the MB-18 teenage curfew policy beginning in September 2005 after a large teenage brawl by Filene's when police had to be called and arrests were made.

On February 15, 2007, a 30-foot (9.1 m) by 50-foot (15 m) section of the top level of the parking garage in front of tenants Ruby Tuesday and Best Buy collapsed.[1][2][3] The town and the mall blamed the snow and the snow removal company, saying that the snow was improperly concentrated in a small area causing the failure under heavy loads. The snow removal company claims their snow clearing practices have remained unchanged for years, and that the collapse was due to poor structural design.[4] The New Hamburg Fire District responded and were the command authority at the scene. They were assisted by the Town of Poughkeepsie Police, Dutchess County Sheriff's Office, and Search and Rescue K-9's from the New York State Police.[1]

Sections of the parking deck were reopened on May 17, 2007, however public mistrust still plagues the structure.[5] The 21-year-old parking garage has been visibly sagging under its own weight for years and was until the collapse known as a "fun ride" for local drivers with its "hills".

In August 2007, the Poughkeepsie Galleria pleaded guilty for violating 302.3 of the New York State Maintenance Code, and was fined $1,000. An earlier civil complaint required the mall to pay $20,000 to the town to cover cleanup and response fees.[6]

Stores

Current Anchor Stores:

Former Anchor Stores:

Square footage

References

  1. 1 2 Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ "Photos: Parking lot collapse | PoughkeepsieJournal.com | Poughkeepsie Local News". Poughkeepsie Journal. Retrieved 2009-06-17.
  4. ↑ John Doherty. "Town blames plow company for Galleria parking garage collapse". recordonline.com. Retrieved 2009-06-17.
  5. ↑ Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
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Coordinates: 41°37′34″N 73°55′14″W / 41.626241°N 73.920653°W / 41.626241; -73.920653

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