Hudson Valley Mall

Hudson Valley Mall is an enclosed shopping mall located in Ulster, New York, north of Kingston, United States. It is the lone mall in Ulster County and is the only enclosed mall located between Poughkeepsie and Albany. Hull Property Group currently owns and operates Hudson Valley Mall. The mall opened in 1981 and has an area of 765,704 square feet (71,136.2 m2) on one level with 30 shops and restaurants as well as a 12-screen Neighborhood Cinema Group theater. The mall is anchored by Best Buy, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Target. Adjacent to the mall is Hudson Valley Plaza, a two-tiered complex on a west-facing hill, consisting mainly of a Walmart, PetSmart and a few other shops (including formerly a Toys "R" Us).

Hudson Valley Mall
Exterior view of Hudson Valley Mall, March 2018
LocationUlster, New York, United States
Coordinates41.966734°N 73.983822°W / 41.966734; -73.983822
Opening date1981
DeveloperThe Pyramid Company
OwnerHull Property Group
No. of stores and services30
No. of anchor tenants6 (3 open, 3 vacant)
Total retail floor area765,704 sq ft (71,136.2 m2)
No. of floors1
Websiteshophudsonvalleymall.com

History

The Hudson Valley Mall opened in 1981 with a Kmart, JCPenney, Hess's, and a Hoyt's six-screen theater named Cinema 6(later expanded to 12 screens and renamed after Regal Cinemas bought the theater).

An expansion during 1989 added a Sears to the east side of the mall as well as a new food court and approximately 15 other stores.

During 1995 Hess's, which filed for bankruptcy, and Kmart, which relocated to a location south of the mall on U.S. Route 9W, vacated the mall within months of each other.[1] (This Kmart location later went out of business and was replaced by a Kohl's). Though the Hess's space was filled the next year by Filene's, the Kmart space at the north end of the mall stayed vacant. During this time, The Pyramid Companies, the mall's owner, began to plan a drastic renovation process.

At the beginning of the 21st century, Pyramid invested in the mall, doing a complete renovation of the mall's interior as well as attracting new tenants. The former Kmart space was divided into a Best Buy (opened 2000) and a Dick's Sporting Goods (opened 2001), with the Target company building a new shop adjacent to the space, which was also opened in 2001. On September 9, 2006, the region gained its first Macy's when that company bought the existing Filene's.

In 2011, ownership of the mall changed when The Pyramid Companies sold it to PCK Development. PCK had consolidated the mall's outstanding debts during 2010, but did not officially purchase the mall until the next year.

In 2015, JCPenney announced it would close its location in the mall due to decreasing sales.[2] It was also during this year that PCK defaulted on its $52.5 million loan from the U.S. National Bank Association (USNBA).

During July 2016, as a result of the default, the USNBA took ownership of the mall and began to search for a new owner.[3] During this time period, mall tenants were instructed to pay rent directly to the USNBA. Additionally, the USNBA asked Tennessee-based retail developer CBL & Associates to help search for new mall tenants.

Macy's announced its store closure at the Hudson Valley Mall during 2016, also citing a decrease in sales and the company's increased emphasis on its online sales.[4]

In 2017, the USNBA finally found a buyer for the mall, Hull Property Group. The sale price of $8.4 million was notably low, partly for the reason that Hull hoped to use it to get a lower property valuation, and thus decrease taxes. After the completion of the sale, Hull announced plans to renovate the mall in the near future.[5]

On January 4, 2018, it was announced that Sears would be closing during April 2018 as part of a plan to close 103 stores nationwide which left Best Buy, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Target as the only anchor store remaining.[6]

During August of that year, Regal closed the movie theater, which had operated continuously since the mall's opening. Hull said it was negotiating with another operator to reopen the theater, and hoped to use the opportunity to upgrade the facilities.[7]

Incidents

2005 mall shooting

On February 13, 2005, Robert Bonelli, age 24, of Glasco, New York, entered the mall with a semi-automatic AK-47 Variant and began firing it in the mall's Best Buy shop.[8] Panic ensued as employees and shoppers began to flee the mall. Bonelli moved into the mall's main corridor and continued firing his weapon until he ran out of ammunition. After emptying the assault rifle, he promptly dropped it. As Bonelli dropped the weapon, a mall employee grabbed his gun, and another tackled him.[9] The mall was evacuated and Bonelli was taken into custody. No one was killed in the shooting, but two people, a 20-year-old National Guard recruiter and a 56-year-old male shopper, were wounded.[10]

After the incident, Ulster County investigators searched Bonelli's room at the home he shared with his father, and found what Ulster County District Attorney Donald Williams described as "Columbine memorabilia". Officials described the young man as being fascinated by the Columbine High School massacre. Additional searches were conducted by police after videos seized at Bonelli's residence showed him exploding homemade pipe bombs with a man named Kenneth Stine and another individual. Both individuals were later arrested and charged with violating federal explosives laws.

Bonelli was taken to the Ulster County jail; on March 15, 2006, Bonelli pleaded guilty and on May 20, 2006 was sentenced to 32 years in the state prison (the maximum allowed by the guilty plea). He will be eligible for parole in 26 years.

2006 murder of Sharon Inger

Some time between closing time of the Ground Round restaurant in the mall on Saturday, June 3, and the morning of Sunday around 9:00 a.m., June 4, 2006, a suspect entered the Ground Round and stabbed a 42-year-old employee, named Sharon Inger, approximately 33 times.[11] Inger, who worked as a night manager of the restaurant, was found early Sunday morning when another employee arrived to open the restaurant. $4000 was missing, according to night receipts. On September 21, 2006, police named Paul David Despres as the killer of Sharon Inger. Despres had begun employment with the Ground Round just a couple of weeks earlier. Investigators believe he went to the restaurant to steal his personnel file after giving a false name to police during a traffic stop earlier on the night of the murder, at around 11:00 p.m. Police believe he had a confrontation with Inger, grabbed a knife in the kitchen, and killed her at about 12:45 a.m. Two weeks later, Despres died after jumping, while intoxicated, from a vehicle after leaving a party.[12]

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See also

References
  1. "DeadMalls.com: Hudson Valley Mall, Kingston, NY". www.deadmalls.com. Retrieved 2017-01-28.
  2. "JCPenney leaving Hudson Valley Mall in April; store employs 74". Retrieved 2017-01-27.
  3. "Hudson Valley Mall owner defaults on $49M in debt; Ulster property put in receivership". Retrieved 2017-01-28.
  4. "No, Hudson Valley Mall Not Closing ⋆ Hudson Valley News Network". Hudson Valley News Network. 2016-01-24. Retrieved 2017-01-27.
  5. "Sale of Hudson Valley Mall complete, but new owner of Ulster property ties improvements to assessment deal". Retrieved 2017-01-27.
  6. http://www.dailyfreeman.com/general-news/20180104/sears-store-at-hudson-valley-mall-in-ulster-closing-in-april
  7. Axelrod, Daniel (April 23, 2018). "Regal Cinemas will close at Hudson Valley Mall in Kingston". Times-Herald Record. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
  8. "Gunman Opens Fire at Upstate New York Mall". The New York Times. 2005-02-13. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-01-27.
  9. "Gunman opens fire at mall in upstate New York; one person wounded". The Seattle Times. 2005-02-13. Retrieved 2017-01-27.
  10. "CNN.com - Shooter wounds two at New York mall - Feb 13, 2005". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2017-01-27.
  11. "Ground Round killer identified, police say". recordonline.com. Retrieved 2017-01-27.
  12. Al-Rikabi, Ramsey. "Cops solve Ground Round slaying; killer is dead". recordonline.com. Retrieved 2017-01-27.
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