Carousel Center

infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = Carousel Center


caption =
location = Syracuse, New York, USA
opening_date = 1990
developer = The Pyramid Companies (EklecCo)
manager =
owner = The Pyramid Companies (EklecCo)
number_of_stores =
number_of_anchors =
floor_area = 1.5 million square feet (140,000 m²)
floors = 7 (two major)
website = [http://www.carouselcenter.com http://www.carouselcenter.com]
parking = Two underground garages, parking deck, parking lot

Carousel Center is a 1.5 million square foot (140,000 m²), seven-story super-regional shopping and entertainment complex on the shore of Onondaga Lake in Syracuse, New York. It has eight anchor store slots - currently filled with Best Buy, Circuit City, Bon Ton, H&M, JC Penney, Macy's, Lord & Taylor, and Sports Authority. Other large stores include Borders, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Old Navy, and Against All Odds. In addition, there is a seventeen-screen Regal Entertainment movie complex, a Bally Total Fitness, and around 150 other retail stores. It opened on October 15, 1990.

Layout

Of the six above ground and one underground floor, the top two floors are devoted to rentable event space, Destiny USA, and scenic overlook of the Syracuse area. The top floor, referred to as the Skydeck, has held a number of events over the years and now is used exclusively as space for Destiny USA staff, although 190 of the 210 Destiny personnel were abruptly terminated in January 2006.

The fourth floor is primarily mall offices, although much of its physical space is taken up by movie theaters, which are accessed from the third floor. The first and second floors span the length of the mall and house the various shops, vendors, restaurants and entertainment venues, with the major food court and namesake carousel being located on the second floor. The underground "Commons" floor houses six medium-sized stores, a chapel, some kiosks, and the two underground parking garages, one of which also houses Circuit City and Best Buy's installation centers.

The mall has ample outside parking surrounding the mall on all sides, as well as one above ground and two underground parking garages. The mall is served by CENTRO buses. There are main entrances on all sides, as well as access through the anchor stores and from the underground parking.

Anchors

Current anchors

*Best Buy: Opened November 1998 50,000 sq ft (5,000 m²).
*The Bon-Ton: Opened 1995 in converted Chappell's space.80,000 sq ft (7,000 m²).
*Borders Books & Music: Opened 1994.
*Circuit City: 34,000 sq ft (3,200 m²). Opened November 2004
*DSW Shoe Warehouse: Opened 1999, relocated to new spot in 2004
*H&M: Opened 2001 55,000 sq ft (5,100 m²). (Two-level)
*JCPenney: Opened 1990 158,590 sq ft (14,733 m²). (Two-level)
*Lord & Taylor: Opened 1993 100,000 sq ft (10,000 m²). (Two-level)
*Macy's: Opened 1990 as Kaufmann's, became Macy's 2006 196,000 sq ft (18,200 m²). (Two-level)
*Old Navy: Opened 1994.
*Regal Cinemas: Opened 1990 as Hoyts Carousel 12, expanded to 14 then 19 in subsequent renovations. Regal acquired Hoyts in 2003 and renovated theaters to modern stadium-seating configuration and 17 screens in 2005. Four theaters exist on the mall's second level, behind the food court, but are only accessible from the third floor.
*Sports Authority: Opened 2005 in half of former Ames
*Steve & Barry's: Opened 2005 in former Kahunaville.

Former anchors

*Ames: Opened 1999 in Hills space (takeover), closed when chain was liquidated in 2002. A portion is of this space is now used for Sports Authority, the rest remains vacant. 82,000 sq ft (7,600 m²).
*Bonwit Teller: The last location of this New York-based department store which was operated at the time by Pyramid. This store closed in 2000 and is currently H&M.
*Chappell's: Syracuse-based dept. store that opened with the mall in 1990 and was converted to Bon Ton in 1995. 80,000 sq ft (7,000 m²).
*CompUSA: Closed 2006 when the chain announced closure of half of its stores. Presumably vacant.
*Hills Department Stores: Discount retailer located on the first floor below Bon Ton, became Ames in 1999. 82,000 sq ft (7,600 m²).
* [http://www.kahunaville.com/ Kahunaville] : Replaced Nobody Beats the Wiz, closed 2004. Now Steve and Barry's.
*Kaufmann's: Original anchor, converted to Macy's in 2006. Also operated a furniture store on the lower level next to Circuit City which closed in 2006. 196,000 sq ft (18,200 m²).
*Lechmere: Original tenant, Opened August 31, 1991. Closed when the chain liquidated in 1999. Space was split between Best Buy and Bally Total Fitness, with the majority of the space going to the former. 82,000 sq ft (7,600 m²).
*Jo-Ann Fabrics - Opened 1990, closed 2005. Now a smaller mall store.
*Nobody Beats the Wiz: New York City based electronics retailer which operated briefly on the commons level and opened fall 1995, closing in 1997. 55,000 sq ft (5,100 m²).
*Steinbach: Originally located on lower level below Lechmere. Much of the space is now a Circuit City while a portion is vacant. 60,000 sq ft (6,000 m²).

Destiny USA

The Carousel Center is part of the planned Destiny USA project, that, if completed in its entirety, would be one of the largest entertainment complexes in the United States.

Additional facts

* The Carousel Center was home to the last-built and last-existing Bonwit Teller store. Pyramid had purchased the struggling chain in 1990 when Bonwit's bankruptcy threatened to leave the then-under construction Carousel Center without its most upscale anchor store. It closed in 2000, and was replaced by H&M. Some of its glamour can still be noted, such as elegant railings and a covered drive-up. {Which is scheduled for demolition during the renovation)
* The 1997 movie Blowin' Smoke, originally titled Freak Talks About Sex, contains many scenes filmed at the mall. The mall is also mentioned in the 2000 movie Snow Day.
* The Carousel Center has its own zip code, 13290, and post office. This post office operates as a "postal store", and is thus open regular mall hours, including Sundays and holidays.
* In the mid-to-late 1990s the Center saw four suicides, at least one from its observation deck level. The deck level closed for nearly 12 years after the suicides. The latest suicide took place on August 18, 2008. [cite web|url=http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=27206e03-a72f-4603-b4d9-6820d7a18da3|title=Portions of mall locked down after man jumps, dies|publisher=9WSYR.com|date=2008-08-18|accessdate=2008-08-19]
* The name of the center is derived from a fully-operational and hand-restored 1909 carousel situated prominently in the mall. Originally known as Carousel No. 18, and built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, this attraction provides the shopping center with its unique name and is only one of the reasons that the mall attracted more than 17 million visitors in 2001. The carousel was purchased from its former home, Roseland Park in Canandaigua, New York, when the park ceased operations in 1985.

References

External links

* [http://carouselcenter.com/ Carousel Center]
* [http://destinyusa.com/ DestiNY USA]
* [http://www.syracuse.com/destinyusa/poststandard/ DestiNY USA News]