TOWN OF DEWITT – A group of local developers is planning to revamp the ShoppingTown Mall site in DeWitt with hopes of restoring its standing as a major community draw.
The Central New York venture OHB Redev LLC aims to turn the property on Erie Boulevard East into a five-district blend set to incorporate offices, restaurants, retail spaces, an entertainment component with potential inclusion of a readapted theater, and upwards of 450 housing units tailored to different income brackets.
“We’ve gone through a nightmare with this property watching really one of the most unique properties in one of our more affluent communities just sit here and rot,” Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said during the July 21 press conference inside the mall. “We didn’t want to award to another company that wasn’t really vested here or committed here just based off the sales price.”
The multi-phase project, named District East, is the brainchild of development firms Redev CNY, Hueber-Breuer Construction, DalPos Architects and Housing Visions. McMahon said he believes Environmental Design & Research is also on board.
The team additionally proposes bike paths, walking trails, fountains and larger amounts of green space for the property, which takes up over 60 acres altogether.
The county purchased the vacated, shuttered mall from Moonbeam Capital Investments LLC for $3.5 million last December, a few months after those previous owners filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
McMahon said OHB Redev’s recent $8 million purchase of the property allows the county to recover the cost of securing ShoppingTown while accumulating a portion of the $10 million in unpaid back taxes that were waived.
The new redevelopment team intends to invest at least $300 million into transforming the site over the coming years.
“We envision a significant alteration to the existing premises,” Redev CNY owner Ryan Benz said. “We’re looking to really take the roof off and create a beautiful, outdoor, amenity-rich space.”
According to Benz, plans are in place to demolish 50-plus percent of the current structure, though the team will first have to go through “a lot of leg work,” such as preliminary calculations regarding energy consumption and the clearing of sewage concerns.
As far as due diligence, McMahon said a payment in lieu of tax (PILOT) agreement needs to be negotiated before the execution of the contract agreement.
Based on present projections, Benz said approximately 400 construction jobs will be needed for the redevelopment process expected to start in 2022, and another 1,400 permanent positions will require filling once District East is up and running.
“We could not be more excited to celebrate this new chapter for the ShoppingTown Mall site,” McMahon said in a released statement. “Our community can finally look forward to reading about grand openings, job openings and progress instead of tax evasion and closures.”
OHB Redev—named after Benz’s son’s initials—is asking Central New York residents and business owners for feedback and general suggestions through the “Reach Out” portal on the website districteastsyr.com.
