Efforts to turn Samanea New York into a “lifestyle destination” with more tenants than vacancies will include an indoor rock climbing gym occupying more than 18,000 square feet in the Westbury mall.
A franchisee of The Gravity Vault has signed a 10-year lease at the mall and will open the facility in 2023, Samanea announced Wednesday.
The gym will join other entertainment tenants that account for large spaces at the mall formerly known as The Mall at the Source, whose tenant mix is being reshaped to include more leisure activities, restaurants and home furnishings businesses – all of which face less online retail competition than shoe and apparel stores.
The entertainment roster now includes the 46,660-square-foot Dave & Buster’s, which is the largest tenant in the mall, and incoming businesses X-Golf, a combination indoor golf simulator, restaurant and bar venue that will open in the second quarter of this year, and Empire Adventure Park, a family entertainment center that is expected to open in the fourth quarter, said Dominic Coluccio, Samanea New York’s chief leasing and development officer.
“So, when you have visitors coming to Samanea New York, they would be able to have everything from retail, entertainment, and enjoying our international cuisine along Restaurant Row,” he said.
The Gravity Vault planned for Samanea New York will be owned by franchisee Mark Davidson, who also owns the other two franchises in New York State – one opened in 2017 on Long Island, in Melville, and the other opened in 2016 in Poughkeepsie.
“We’re busting at the seams in Melville, so we’re really looking to move closer to the city. It’s a unique location at the mall, so it’s really exciting for us,” said Davidson, 50, a Poughkeepsie resident.
The Westbury gym will occupy 18,119 square feet on the second floor of Samanea New York, moving into the mall’s former food court and two other former retail spaces.
The gym will have 20,000 square feet of climbing terrain, and climbing walls as high as 45 feet, Davidson said.
Founded in 2005, The Gravity Vault is headquartered in New Jersey and has 12 locations, eight of which are franchises, in California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania as well as New York, Davidson said.
Real estate company Colliers International, which represented both the tenant and the landlord in the Westbury lease, “was able to recapture common space and utilize exceptional ceiling height, making the site a perfect fit for Gravity Vault,” Matthew Kucker, managing director in Colliers’ Jericho office, said in a statement Wednesday.
Located at 1500 Old Country Road, the mall was built in 1996.
After years of high vacancy rates, the 750,000-square-foot mall underwent a $28 million renovation that was completed in March as the mall’s owner — Lesso Mall Development Long Island Inc., a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Lesso Group Holdings Ltd. — tried to improve its fortunes by focusing on bringing in a different mix of tenants. (Lesso bought the struggling mall for $92 million in 2017.)
The mall is now 67% leased, but several tenants have not moved in yet, Coluccio said.
Mall tenants opening this year include Asian American grocer 99 Ranch Market, kitchen retailer MyPlanet Living Center and Arteco Cabinetry, all of which are expected to open in the first quarter of this year, he said.
Membership-based crafting center Let’s Craft and three restaurants — MoCa Asian Bistro, Szechuan Cuisine and K-Pot, a Korean hotpot and barbecue eatery — are expected to open in the second quarter, he said.
The mall has seven existing tenants, including The Cheesecake Factory, Fortunoff Backyard Store, Leon Banilivi Rugs, Bloomingdale’s Furniture Outlet, Kawai Piano Outlet and Leonardo Furniture.
