The mall is owned and managed by Simon Property Group, one of the largest developers of shopping malls in the US.
History
Walt Whitman Shopping Center
Built as New York's first indoor shopping mall, the facility cost $20 million at included 75 stores. It opened around anchors R.H. Macy & Company and Abraham & Straus in November 1962. It was the first time both companies directly competed with each other in the same location.[4]
The Walt Whitman Shopping Center, as it was called then, was built by the Winston-Muss Corporation and featured a Japanese garden, aviary, and sculpted mobile based on the poetry of Walt Whitman.[5][6] By January 1963, the facility was fully rented.[7] In May, a single-screen movie theater opened, operated by Century.[8]
Walt Whitman Mall
By the early 1970s, the location was being referred to as the Walt Whitman Mall.[9] Winston-Muss sold the mall to N.K. Winston, Inc. in 1973, who sold it to Corporate Property Investors three years later.[10]
On November 13, 1984, a fire destroyed seven stores, damaged 25 others, and collapsed part of the roof.[11] It took seven fire companies four hours to get the blaze under control; 13 people were treated for minor injuries.[12][13] Two thirds of the stores were able to reopen soon after, while the rest were sealed off for repair.[14]
On May 16, 1991, a fire killed two people and injured 36 others. It was the fourth fire at the McCrory's location in six months.[15][16] In 1993, a McCrory's worker pleaded guilty to tossing a lit cigarette into a display of silk flowers set on a block of styrofoam, causing significant damage to the store and killing two of his coworkers, aged 20 and 27. The store never reopened.[17][18]
By 1995, CPI was planning a massive, $50 million expansion project that would grow the mall 30% by adding a second floor, 80 stores, food court, multiscreen cinema, and two new garages. However, the plan faced significant protest from local homeowners.[19][20] When Federated Department Stores merged A&S into Macy's, the Walt Whitman Mall became the first location in the country to have two Macy's storefronts. However, Bloomingdale's was soon brought in to serve as a new anchor store.[4]
In February 1998, Simon DeBartolo Group purchased CPI and took control of the mall.[21] Simon completed a $85 million renovation in March 1999, adding 32 stores, marble floor tiles, vaulted ceilings, skylights, and a glass domed center court to expand the mall to one million square feet.[22] Programmable advertising displays and traffic monitoring features were also installed. Walt Whitman's poem "Leaves of Grass" was etched onto the outside of the building. Saks Fifth Avenue opened in March 1999, joining new tenants Williams Sonoma, L'Occitane, Sephora, and Brooks Brothers.[23] By June 2000, sales had increased by 18%, putting it ahead of the national sales average.[10] In July, Legal Seafoods opened a standalone location next to the mall.[24] The Whitman Theater closed in 2002.[25] In May 2003, an Apple Store opened at the mall.[26]
Walt Whitman Shops
In February 2012, Simon received approval for another expansion project that would add 72,000 square feet to the upper and lower levels of the mall and 30 new storefronts.[27][28] Indoor renovations were completed in summer 2013 and the Walt Whitman Shops, as it was now called, was unveiled in November.[29][30] The walls featuring quotes from "Leaves of Grass" were removed and replaced by a bronze statue of Walt Whitman at the Mall's new main entrance.[31][28]
In August 2013, an Urban Outfitters opened.[32] On February 22, 2014, a carbon monoxide leak at Legal Seafoods killed one person and sickened 28 others. All three restaurants in the complex (Legal Sea Foods, The Cheesecake Factory, and Panera Bread) were evacuated.[33] The leak was blamed on a faulty water heater pipe.[34] The restaurant permanently closed at the end of the year.[35] On March 2, 2016, 10 people were hospitalized after Panera Bread suffered another carbon monoxide leak that originated from the construction site where Legal Seafoods used to be.[36][37]
On March 19, 2020, the Walt Whitman Shops closed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and didn't reopen until July 10.[38][39] On August 27, 2020, it was announced that Lord & Taylor would shutter its traditional brick-and-mortar format as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[40] The previous Lord & Taylor outpost is in the approval stages to become reconstructed for a vibrant modern office use concept.[41]
^Rumsey, Spencer; Twarowski, Christopher (September 10, 2013). "Walt Whitman's Long Island Roots". www.longislandpress.com. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
^ abLisicky, Michael J. (2017). Abraham and Straus: It's Worth a Trip From Anywhere. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press. pp. 74–75, 128. ISBN9781625858870.
