White Plains went from 3 malls to 1
But Connecticut residents still cross the New York border to go shopping
GREENWICH — When Lauren Rabin was growing up, she and her mother would travel into White Plains, N.Y., to go shopping.
The high point of the trip was visiting Macy’s, Sears and Alexander’s, which were standalone stores when she was young, said Rabin, now a Greenwich selectwoman. Then there was the White Plains Mall, which opened in 1972, another draw for families living close to the New York border.
“The Galleria opened in 1980, and by then, I was going to college. We shopped there when it first opened,” Rabin recalled.
In 1995, The Westchester opened with its highend stores and upscale architecture, drawing even more shoppers across the border from Connecticut.
But now, the shopping mall scene in White Plains is different. From stores shutting down to the rise of online shopping, the mall industry has shifted, resulting in many malls, including some in Connecticut, being sold.
Both the Galleria and the White Plains Mall have closed and will be redeveloped into housing, leaving only The Westchester of the three still standing. But with no mall in Greenwich itself and a choice of nearby malls — a lot of residents say they still drive to White Plains.
Some 46 percent of people who filled out an unofficial Hearst Connecticut Media survey asking which mall they prefer to go to said they shop at The Westchester.
“I go (to The Westchester) for convenience and store selection,” Rabin said. “Also a bit of nostalgia... since my mother also took us shopping in White Plains when I was a child.”
According to a spokesman for The Westchester, the mall remains a destination despite the demise of its local competition. The 2023 holiday shopping season in particular was strong.
Maria Gregorius, director of marketing for The Westchester, said in a statement that since 2021, the mall’s holiday shopping season has seen yearto-year growth.
“We saw an uptick in last-minute shopping as the final weekend before Christmas proved to be one of our busiest with increased traffic and shoppers taking advantage of our comprehensive mix of retailers, including 10 new shops opened in 2023,” she said.
Gregorius said that The Westchester underwent “a major renovation several years ago” and new stores opened at the mall in 2023 including Melissa & Doug, Talbots, Lids, Sugar Bear and Sur La Table. Along with that, Gregorius said, “another new perk” is an updated parking system.
“The new, faster and easier parking program, which allows visitors to shop all day for $4 and pay using their phone via the QR code on their parking ticket, helped make the holiday shopping season more convenient for The Westchester customer,” she said.
For 2024, Gregorius said there will be more store openings, including Anthropologie, Gorjana, Garage and Forward, and that the mall will continue to host events and programs as it did in 2023 by partnering with local organizations during the holiday season.
“We look forward to continuing our support of the community in 2024 with exciting programs and events,” Gregorius said.
Big changes in White Plains
The Galleria shut down in March; the White Plains Mall was demolished in August 2022. In their heyday, both malls drew hundreds of thousands of patrons to their stores, but time and shifting shopping habits were not kind to the aging buildings.
Now, the former sites are taking on a new identity: Both mall properties will soon be converted to housing. The Cappelli Organization, a real estate developer in White Plains, is working on both mall-to-housing conversion projects.
The White Plains Mall project, which is called Hamilton Green, will offer a total of 860 rental units and is further along. The first phase of the project is underway, said Bruce Berg, chief executive officer of The Cappelli Organization.
Berg said that the first phase of the Hamilton Green project includes the creation of two residential buildings — 7 Cottage and 240 Hamilton. In total, the two buildings will have 470 of the rental units and offer 515 parking spaces in an underground parking garage. In total, this phase costs around $350 million and will also include 39,000 square feet of retail space that can be used for a variety of businesses from exercise space to restaurants.
“The first tower is topped out, the second tower is under construction,” Berg said. “The first tower will open at the end of 2024, the second tower will open in 2025.”
The second phase of the project will include 390 residential units, 441 parking spaces and 45,000 square feet of retail space. However, Berg said the timing of this phase is “to be determined.” Overall, the project is slated to cost a total of $650 million.
On the former Galleria property, Berg said the plan is to build a multi-billion dollar mall-to-housing conversion.
It will feature seven residential towers of varied heights with up to 3,200 apartments, of which 384 would be designed as affordable, in accordance with the City of White Plains Affordable Rental Housing Regulations, a September news release stated.
The project, called District Galleria, will also include fitness, dining, grocery and outdoor spaces, Berg said.
“Down in the middle of the site ... We’re planning about a quarter mile long promenade, so there will be retail on both sides, a park, places for dogs to play, outdoor dining areas,” Berg said. “We are planning a couple of, I’ll call them community spaces. Maybe the city can do a tree lighting ceremony or a holiday lighting ceremony.”
The conversion project is estimated to cost $2.5 billion. Berg said “we’re now in a, I’m going to say roughly a year-long process to obtain approval of zoning and then hopefully approval of the site plan. We’ve commenced the city public hearing process.”