Lesso Home New York is a planned mixed-use development center located in Westbury, New York, on Old Country Road and Merchants Concourse (Ellison Avenue), currently owned by Lesso Mall Development Long Island Inc. The center is being built inside the mostly unoccupied Mall at the Source, which was named for its former anchor store Fortunoff (advertised as "The Source") operated until June 2009.
The mall opened in 1997, under the management of Simon Property Group. With the 2009 closures of Fortunoff, Steve and Barry's, and Circuit City, three large anchor stores had become vacant. The drop of foot traffic by the loss of the anchors has caused other stores – the three aforementioned sub-anchor chains, plus Saks Off 5th, & Forever 21 – and the entire food court – including McDonald's, Starbucks, Ranch 1 – to pull out from the mall. Simon Property Group and unnamed co-owners of the Mall at the Source defaulted on a $124 million balloon interest-only mortgage in March 2009.[3] It was purchased by a European pension fund in August 2012 and auctioned.[4] In November 2016, it was announced that the Mall at the Source would be sold and could be demolished to make way for a new mixed use development.[5]
In May 2017, Lesso Mall Development Long Island Inc. (a subsidiary of the Hong Kong listed LESSO Group) purchased the mall for $92 million.[6] On October 21, 2017, it was announced that the Mall at the Source would be redeveloped into a decoration hub for Lesso Home, which was originally scheduled to open in the fall of 2018, but has been delayed. A few retailers, The Cheesecake Factory, Dave & Buster's, and a Fortunoff outdoor furniture and jewelry store remain open during renovations.[7]
Roosevelt Raceway bought the property when it expanded the harness-racing track in the 1940s for additional parking. In the early 1960s, Ohrbach's constructed a department store on leased land at north-east corner of the raceway's property. Fortunoff built its store several years later in 1964, as they followed their customers east from the original Fortunoff location in Brooklyn.[8] Alan Fortunoff bought the entire property north of the current boundary of Transverse Drive from Roosevelt Raceway in the early 1980s.
In the late 1980s, Alan Fortunoff planned to construct the Long Island Galleria shopping mall, one comparable to the size of the massive Roosevelt Field Mall a few miles away but with different stores. It was to be built by the Westfield Group and include Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom as anchor stores. Community pressure over congestion concerns forced Fortunoff to scale back the size and scope of the mall. Roughly half of the property was sold to Price Club (now Costco), which developed their portion to include a Kmart (now Walmart). The mall was instead built by Simon Property Group, and they continued to manage and co-own the mall until August 2012.
Many of the mall's tenants left after the closure of the anchor stores.
2009 saw the shuttering of all three anchor stores — Fortunoff, Steve & Barry's, and Circuit City — crippling foot traffic and resulting in a steady abandonment by its remaining tenants (outside of its restaurants, which maintained their standalone customers). On August 9, 2012, it was announced that the property was to go up for auction by the end of the month; by then, the mall was under 50% occupancy. The opening of the nearby Gallery at Westbury Plaza in late 2012 prompted Nordstrom Rack, Old Navy, and Saks Off 5th to move away, leaving the future of the mall uncertain.[4] On August 28, an auction was held, but was unsuccessful in attracting buyers.[11] Lenders then took ownership of the mall, and Newmark Grubb Knight Frank was hired for management.[12]
In 2013, a Lord & Taylor outlet store and the Jewelry Emporium and Mall opened in the former Nordstrom Rack and Off 5th, respectively.[13] However, these stores failed to increase foot traffic at the mall, and the vacancy rate continued to increase.
In 2014, Dick's Sporting Goods closed a substantial portion of its Golf Galaxy stores,[14] including its store in the Mall at the Source. David's Bridal moved to the nearby Roosevelt Raceway Shopping Center in June 2015, leaving the Fortunoff court almost completely vacant.
Lesso Home New York Market (2018–present)
In May 2017, Lesso Mall Development Long Island Inc. (a subsidiary of the Hong Kong listed LESSO Group) purchased the mall for $92 million.[6] On October 21, 2017, it was announced that the Mall at the Source would be redeveloped into a Decor Hub for Lesso Home; redevelopment had been originally scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2018, but has since been delayed. It will include showrooms for many manufactures for home furnishings, decor, walkable markets, etc. The format will be much similar to the Italy-based Eataly.[7]
The firm aims to recast the long-ailing retail center as a home-furnishings marketplace for design professionals, contractors and retail buyers—with a big food and entertainment component for local shoppers.[2]
The Mall at the Source had two floors and is shaped like an L. Because of this, the mall had separate "courts", named after the stores that anchor it (except for Center Court). Each anchor store had its own public entrance but not all have mall entrances; these stores tend to stay open later than the interior stores.
Center Court
The Center Court is the main entrance and includes a carousel and train. Some of the stores in the Center Court included P. F. Chang's China Bistro and Lord & Taylor Outlet. The center court is also where Steve and Barry's was; in its place is a Fortunoff Backyard Store. Nordstrom Rack, Old Navy, and Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th relocated to the neighboring Gallery at Westbury Plaza. The carousel has since been removed.
Off 5th Saks Court
The Off 5th Saks court is the upper tip of the L, a long hall that includes the Food Court and the former Saks Off 5th. The 1st floor has a Dave & Buster's, the only tenant left in the court. It also contained the former Circuit City.
