Bedford Park News: Yankees, Victoria’s Secret Opening in Bay Plaza

Bedford Park News: Yankees, Victoria’s Secret Opening in Bay Plaza: Yankees, Victoria’s Secret Opening in Bay Plaza By Michael Horowitz BRONX, NEW YORK, AUGUST 15-  The Bay Plaza shopping center’s ne...

Yankees, Victoria’s Secret Opening in Bay Plaza

Yankees, Victoria’s Secret Opening in Bay Plaza

By Michael Horowitz

BRONX, NEW YORK, AUGUST 15- The Bay Plaza shopping center’s new wing, which has been in the planning stage for years, opened on Thursday morning.

Portions of the new mall, including its spanking new Macy’s, were still under construction by the middle of this week. Portions of the new mall will not be completed until next year.

The new mall, when it is fully completed, will be anchored by Macy’s at one end and a pre-existing JC Penney’s department store at the other end. 

Stores in the new mall will ultimately include Victoria Secret Express, Swarovski Crystals, H&M, Michael Kors, and the Yankee Clubhouse.

Other chains that have signed leases to be at Bay Plaza include Zales Jewelers, Kay Jewelers, Matthew’s Jewelers, Cohen Optical, Bath & Body, Charlotte Rousse, Champs, Footlocker, Lid’s Hats, Joe’s Crab Shack, the Olive Garden, Red Robin, American Eagle Aeropostale, and Sprint.

The new Macy’s, which will be an anchor store for Bay Plaza’s new, enclosed mall, will comprise 160,000 square feet on its own.

The 780,000-square foot extension of Bay Plaza will mean that the shopping center, which is on the outskirts of Co-op City, will comprise close to two million square feet.

The price tag for the extension of the Bay Plaza mall is expected to approach $300 million. The new mall is expected to create 1,700 permanent jobs and to have parking for up 2,300 cars.

The extension of Bay Plaza’s new wing will be connected to the existing JC Penney store at Bay Plaza.

In recent months, those living in Co-op City and those driving by the community have seen the new wing of the shopping center rising on its southern end of the Bay Plaza shopping center. 

The shopping center’s developers and elected officials have stressed that the impending of Bay Plaza’s new wing is an exciting development for the Bronx and Westchester.

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., among others, have touted the development of Bay Plaza’s new wing as a sign of progress in the Bronx and in the city as a whole. 

Bay Plaza, which first opened in the mid-1980s and spans 1.3 million square feet, is already the largest mall in the Bronx.

When the new mall is completed, it will be attached to the current shopping center. The entire mall will be enclosed, making it the first mall of this kind in the Bronx.

“We are talking to all the major chains about coming to Bay Plaza,” Sam Shalem, CEO of Prestige Properties (the shopping center’s developer), has stressed. “This is just the kind of suburban mall this area needs.”

Shalem has said that he is confident that the enlarged mall will have major appeal to the more than four million people who live in close proximity to Co-op City.

Shalem has stated that he expects the new shopping center to attract those living in Westchester and southern Connecticut, as well as those living in neighborhoods through the Bronx.

Bedford Park News: Bay Plaza

Bedford Park News: Bay Plaza: Bay Plaza’s Open for Business BRONX, NEW YORK, AUGUST 14- Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. was the very first customer at th...

Bay Plaza

Bay Plaza’s Open for Business

BRONX, NEW YORK, AUGUST 14- Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. was the very first customer at the new Macy's near Co-op City, which officially opened as part of the new Mall at Bay Plaza—a facility which has 780,000 square feet of retail space and is the first enclosed fashion mall in the New York City area in almost 40 years. 

To fill 1,800 new job spots, Governor Andrew Cuomo's Unemployment Strikeforce partnered with Borough President 

Diaz and the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation to help match candidates with the positions.

“To all the Macy’s family, on behalf of 1.4 million Bronxites, I want to say thank you,” Diaz said. “This is truly a partnership between the community, community leaders, people like Marlene Cintron, who is the president of the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation; and, of course, government.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I just want to say this: of all of the brands that are being sold at Macy’s, in all seriousness, the number one brand, the most important brand that is being sold here today is that of the ‘New Bronx.’

“When Macy’s makes a decision to go somewhere, they don’t make that decision lightly. And so to invest in our borough, to give our residents better and more pleasant shopping opportunities, to give employment to our borough…but also to send a message across the nation that they’re coming to The Bronx, and they’re here in The Bronx, it shows that something good is happening right here.

“So for that, we all want to say thank you, God bless you, and let’s continue to move forward.”

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Bedford Park News: New Skate Park

Bedford Park News: New Skate Park: New Skate Park For Norwood Riverdale Report By Robert Press BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 30- Last week Councilman Andrew Cohen, alon...

New Skate Park

New Skate Park For Norwood

Riverdale Report

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 30- Last week Councilman Andrew Cohen, along with Bronx Parks Commissioner Hector Aponte, Community Board 7 Parks Committee Chair Barbara Stronzer, CB 7 District Manager Dustin Engelken, and dozens of local skateboarders took the first step in creating a new skateboard park area in the Williamsbridge Oval in Norwood.

Councilman Cohen announced that he has allocated $750,000 of capital expense funds for the construction of this skate park in the Oval. Bronx Parks Commissioner Aponte said “NYC Parks is appreciative to council member Cohen for this allocation towards building a new skate park in the Williamsbridge Oval. Cohen said that the skate park had been a request of Community Board 7, and Norwood residents for quite some time. This idea goes as far back as 10 years ago, and after the project was supported by CB7 it will now become reality he added. The expected date of the first shovel going into the ground however could be years from now as the Parks Department is so backed up from projects from the Croton Filtration Plant mitigation money. Some projects that were to be finished years ago are still on the drawing board. Go to my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com to read more and see a photo of everyone at this announcement.

This past Saturday night the movie Frozen was shown in Seton Park in Riverdale by KRVDC with help from State Senator Klein. Almost 400 people were on hand including Councilman Andrew Cohen, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, Community Board 8 Chair Dan Padernacht, Senator Jeff Klein, and even Senator Klein's opponent for the September Democratic primary former Councilman Oliver Koppell. The forecast of rain held off, and everyone had a cool time. You can go to my blog and check the KRVDC listing in the archive on the lower left to see what other upcoming events that KRVDC has lined up for you. More movie nights and two street festivals.

Otherwise things were very quiet this past week in the Jeff Klein/Oliver Koppell 34th State Senate race, and it was to quiet if you ask me. Senator Klein touted out several more union endorsements while challenger Oliver Koppell touted the endorsement of the Amsterdam News, an upper Manhattan newspaper. There is however always next year for Koppell, as I told him Saturday night. Next year will be the race for Bronx District Attorney. Koppell is certainly qualified for Bronx DA having been state Attorney General before. I said to then Councilman Oliver Koppell at the 2011 Bronx Democratic County Committee Dinner that he would make a great candidate for Public Advocate. By the way Oliver I missed you at this year's Bronx Democratic County Committee Dinner last week.

Finally it looks like the summer street repaving is starting in Community Board 8 as a few streets are being milled down and repaved. One such street is Bailey Avenue between the Van Cortland Park Avenue exit off the Deegan Highway and West 238th Street where the new BJ's shopping center is scheduled to open soon. I wonder if that is so the trucks can get to BJ's on a smooth road that didn't need to be repaved? Now if only the city can fix and repave the real streets that need it since the Con Edison street construction has done a great job of helping to ruin many of the streets.

If you have any comments about this column or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.

Bedford Park News: Jobs wanted

Bedford Park News: Jobs wanted: Jobs wanted --Photo by David Greene Hundreds of Bronxites turned out for the second annual Bronx Jobs Fair held at DeWitt Clinton H...