ShoppingTown Mall, a regional shopping center in Dewitt, has been under new management for a year, and the mall’s owners are ready to build the mall back to its former reputation.

The new owner— Moonbeam Capital Investments LLC — bought the mall in an auction, has been talking to new tenants about signing leases and will file an initial site plan early next year. The mall’s future plans include gaining more retail stores and improving its occupancy, said James Tull, the director of management for MCI.

Tull said the company thinks ShoppingTown can fill a need in the market for retail, and there is a demand for retail in DeWitt. This need will get the mall back to its previous position with the community, he said.

Anna Khavulya, the marketing and specialty leasing director of MCI added that the team believes ShoppingTown is in a very good location and has great tenants.

“With a little bit of love and redevelopment, we believe it can again become a destination for the community,” Khavulya said.

ShoppingTown was foreclosed three years ago after its previous owner, Macerich, did not pay a balloon payment of $39 million due on the mall’s mortgage, Tull said. MCI thought the mall would be a good investment and bought it in 2013, he added.

The mall will not be foreclosed again, because MCI owns the property, so there is no mortgage, Tull said. ShoppingTown has yet to sign more leases, but the company is currently talking to several national stores, he said.

“We’re getting ready to do some building modifications that we feel some tenants will like, and we’re also getting ready to go to the planning board,” Tull said. “I think it’ll make a huge difference to the mall and the community.”

MCI is still in the process of redeveloping the mall. The company is currently figuring out which tenants are the best to bring in, and want to make sure ShoppingTown becomes a prime location for the Dewitt community, Khavulya said.

ShoppingTown struggled with tenants in the past, but the mall has recently gotten a boost of business from the Central New York Playhouse, a local theatre.

Dustin Czarny, the artistic director of the CNY Playhouse said he’s had a great relationship with the mall, and since the start of this year, 12,000 people have visited the Playhouse.

The Playhouse has events every Thursday through Sunday. When the theater is not putting on shows, it is either rehearsing, stage building or holding auditions. The theater has a wide variety of entertainment including traditional and non-traditional Broadway shows, comedy and magic nights, Czarny said.

“Moonbeam has been very good about fixing up the mall. I’m very hopeful that their future plans are going to include expanding ShoppingTown to national tenants,” he said.

Czarny said he believes ShoppingTown is a different type of mall that some people prefer because they like to support local businesses.

“ShoppingTown will never compete with Destiny on size and choices, but some customers want a smaller destination where they can buy from local stores and find convenient parking,” he said. “It has kind of turned into an entertainment spot, with the Playhouse, a movie theatre and gymnastics center.”

Tull added that CNY Playhouse likes the location of ShoppingTown because of the local community, and this connection has been working great for their business.

Khavulya said ShoppingTown is more of a family-oriented, community mall than other shopping centers in the area. She added that this is a quality the company hopes to preserve.

“The plan is to keep it a destination for the community,” she said. “Shoppers love coming to the mall because it’s a smaller community mall, closer to them and easier to get to.”

Published on October 8, 2014 at 12:01 am