- Dutchess Mall
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Dutchess Mall 
Entry to Dutchess Mall, 2004Location Fishkill, New York, United States Opening date 1974 Closing date 2001 Management Dagar Group No. of stores and services 1 (original mall featured over 50 stores) No. of anchor tenants 1 No. of floors 1 Dutchess Mall was an enclosed shopping mall in Fishkill, New York, United States. Currently, the former mall property is the site of a Home Depot, as well as two vacant buildings (previously occupied by Service Merchandise and Jamesway), with the rest of the property awaiting further redevelopment. Dagar Group manages the shopping center.[1] R.C. Chera Realty Group is the exclusive leasing broker for the existing vacant structure.[2]
Contents
History
Dutchess Mall opened in 1974 as the first mall in Dutchess County.[3] The mall occupied a portion of a site once occupied by the Fishkill Encampment and Supply Depot, which has been listed on the National Register of Historical Places since Dutchess Mall's opening.[4] The Fishkill Encampment was previously slated for conversion to a national park, but the plan was rejected.[5] Original anchors of the mall included J. W. Mays Company and Luckey Platt, two local department stores;[6] other major tenants included Flah's (another local department store)[6] and Drug World (a pharmacy), as well as Radio Shack and Waldenbooks.
Former Jamesway at Dutchess Mall, 2004
J. W. Mays closed in the 1980s and was replaced with Gaynes. Gaynes, in turn, was converted to discounter Jamesway, which closed in 1994. Luckey Platt closed in the 1980s and was replaced with Service Merchandise, which closed on December 24, 1996.[3] The former Service Merchandise was soon replaced with the Dutchess Flea Market.
For many years, Dutchess Mall was the only mall serving its area; however, it was often unable to attract many big-name tenants, due to rumors of a larger mall opening nearby. The rumored mall, which would have been anchored by Macy's, never came to fruition.[6] Because it could not attract stores easily, and because the anchor stores had changed, Dutchess Mall was quick to lose tenants, eventually replacing a large portion of retail space with a satellite campus of Marist College. Other problems plaguing the mall included an outdated mall design; competition from the nearby Poughkeepsie Galleria; and the advent of big box retail.[3]
Revitalization
Interior of Dutchess Flea Market, 2004In 1999, plans were announced to convert the mall into a business community called Hudson Valley Metro Centre. The project would have included office tenants, a recreational facility, child care, and restaurants.[7] Due to high startup costs, the plans were scrapped,[8] and by 2001, the mall was sealed off entirely except for the flea market, which remained open. Two years later, a group of designers from New York devised a plan to convert Dutchess Mall into a women's prison. This plan was one of the finalists in "Dead Malls", a competition created by the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design.[9] This plan, however, did not go beyond the scope of the competition.
Finally, after several years of vacancy, the mall was demolished for a Home Depot, which opened on July 5, 2006.[1] Only the mall building itself was demolished. The former Jamesway and Service Merchandise buildings were left intact. Due to the demolition of the mall, the flea market was soon closed.
As of July 2010, the Home Depot is the only store still open with a nearby McDonalds, both the old Jamesway and Service Merchandise buildings are still intact but are sealed off to the public. Also a near the Service Merchandise building is a small abandon strip mall and behind the small part of the strip mall is the golf center.
Fish Kill Flea
In 2007, Dutchess Mall was the subject of a documentary titled Fish Kill Flea; the documentary's main focus was the mall's flea market.[10]
External links
References
- ^ a b "Dutchess Mall". The Dagar Group Properties Ltd.. Archived from the original on 2007-03-15. http://web.archive.org/web/20070315201925/http://www.dagargroup.com/dutchessmall.html. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ "R.C. Chera Realty Group - The Dutchess Mall Site Profile". http://www.rcchera.com/listings.html. Retrieved 2007-05-15.
- ^ a b c "Ancient mall reveals how humans used to shop". The Dagar Group Properties Ltd.. http://www.dagargroup.com/storywsg.html. Retrieved 2007-05-03.[dead link]
- ^ "Fishkill Historical focus". http://www.fishkill-historical-focus.org/. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ "Fading into history: Fishkill depot defenseless against mall". Times Herald-Record. http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060916/NEWS/609160323/-1/NEWS14. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ a b c "Route 9 offers promise of busy commerce". Poughkeepsie Journal. http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/BUSINESS05/602260341. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ "Plan To Revitalize The Former Dutchess Mall Announced". Putnam County News. http://www.pcnr.com/News/1999/1027/Front_Page/08_Plan_To_Revitalize_The_Former_Dutchess_Mall_Announced.html. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ "Endogenous healing methods in the treatment of mall decay: A case study of Dutchess Mall, Fishkill, New York" (PDF). LA Forum. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20070928113912/http://www.laforum.org/deadmalls/finalist_pdfs/Williams1.pdf. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ "What To Do with Dead Malls". National Trust. Archived from the original on 2007-03-25. http://web.archive.org/web/20070325135041/http://www.nationaltrust.org/Magazine/archives/arc_news/082103.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ "Fish Kill Flea". Austin Film Society. http://www.austinfilm.org/node/1223. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
Coordinates: 41°31′09″N 73°53′33″W / 41.519152°N 73.892463°W
Categories:- Shopping malls in New York
- Demolished shopping malls in the United States
- U.S. Route 9
- Shopping malls established in 1974
- Fishkill, New York
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