The Eastern Hills Mall is taking a major step forward in its plans to transform the Clarence mall into a town center – a walkable, livable community, complete with housing, stores, restaurants and hotels.But to do that, it is starting to move out tenants in big portions of the mall in advance of the start of demolition work needed to make way for the town center.The process is slated to begin early next year, after obtaining municipal approvals, said Uniland Development, the mall’s owner.Some tenants will be relocated to new locations on the property, while others will not.Most stores with exterior entrances will continue to operate.Tenants in interior portions of the mall will be vacated.
Fire pits and water features are meant to add visual interest and bring people together in the redevelopment plan for the Eastern Hills Mall.“Redeveloping an active mall is never easy.
That’s why most developers usually demolish the entire location and start over,” said Ryan Weisz, a Uniland spokesperson.“We took the more difficult route in keeping the mall open as preparation for conversion to a town center unfolds.” The mall said it is hoping to retain as many tenants as possible, which is part of the reason it decided to let them stay through the prime holiday shopping season.It is in talks with current tenants, and facilitating talks with retail brokerages to help relocate tenants who will be leaving, Uniland said.The town center plan is meant to create a walkable community, similar to the Elmwood Village.
Vacating the interior portions of the mall ensures that, once the concept plan is approved, the mall can quickly move onto demolition and redevelopment, Uniland said.“All merchants – and the community, for that sake – were informed long ago of our plans to convert the mall into a town center.Everyone knew this was coming eventually,” Weisz said.Steve Stroh, owner of Nickel City Wrestling, said he knew the town center was coming, but said tenants were still jarred to get notice that they would be vacated.
“It hit like a bomb yesterday,” he said.“Nobody expected the bomb to get dropped when it did.” Stroh said he’s working with the mall to keep his operations going at the former Dipson Theatre, and to possibly relocate his tattoo parlor from the interior portion of the mall to a buildout on the wrestling site.
The tattoo shop opened in March.A potential future buildout, provided by Uniland Development.“I know a lot of the smaller tenants, unfortunately, won’t be able to handle the transition into the new spaces,” he said.
“They’re paying super cheap rent, and it’s not going to be the same when they put new buildings in there.” The town center project is expected to take 10 years and cost $250 million.Already imagined with generous green space, more was added to the plan after the Covid-19 pandemic.Carl J.
Montante Jr., Uniland’s vice president of marketing and strategic initiatives, describes the plan for the mall’s transformation as “turning the mall inside out.” Most of the mall’s interior corridors will be gone, making room for broad sidewalks, parks, landscaped streets and exterior storefronts.The future town center would have stores, services, housing, entertainment and more.The project responds to a change in consumer habits, which has people shopping online more often.When they do shop in person, consumers no longer want to navigate a mall.They want to get in and get out – like they do at retail plazas such as The Boulevard in Amherst.To entice more customers, malls have tried to integrate more entertainment and restaurant options.While the town center will have retail, it will not be a mall.The plan calls for the 100-acre complex to include freestanding offices, medical spaces, residential space, shopping, dining, recreational spaces and civic areas.
Uniland is planning roughly 1,500 residential units and a million square feet of office and medical space, as well as multiple restaurants, stores and hotels.Almost all of it will be accessible within a 10-minute walk.The town center would have streets and street parking, just like a real town.
The project, on the border with Clarence and Amherst, will be bordered by Main Street, Transit Road and Sheridan Drive.Must-read local business coverage that exposes the trends, connects the dots and contextualizes the impact to Buffalo’s economy.News Business Reporter {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items..
