Demolition makes way for the new Shoppes at Latham

By Ian Benjamin ibenjamin@troyrecord.com Twitter.com/ibenja2

Demolition continues on the center portion of the former Latham Circle Mall on Wednesday. (J.S.Carras/The Record)

LATHAM While customers perused products at JC Penney's and Lowe's, demolition of the center portion of the defunct Latham Circle Mall began Tuesday and continued Wednesday.

Despite the nearby demolition, JCPenney's and Lowe's will remain, said Sara Wiest, the public information officer with the town of Colonie. After Jackson Demolition, of Schenectady, completes removal of the mall in the next month or two, Massachusetts-based Grossman Development Corp., LLC will begin construction of the Shoppes at Latham two outdoor shopping centers, a 190,000-square-foot space, and a smaller, 51,000- to 52,00-square-foot space.

We want to get this building free and clear, said Mark Hebert, vice-president of development for Grossman. We would like to start construction on (the shoppes') footings sometime this summer.

The two new buildings will be further back from Loudon Road than the center of the mall is currently, eliminating parking on the back, while creating more parking in the front, said Hebert. The buildings will front on Loudon Road.

The demolition is bringing down a mall that has stood at the location for more than half a century. Since the early aughts, tenants have slowly vacated the space among them, a Gold's Gym, the Malt River Brewing Co., and a Burlington Coat Factory. It now retains only its original anchor store, JCPenney's on the north end, which does not allow access to the mall's interior, and a more recent tenant, Lowe's, which occupies a structure no longer connected to the mall interior.

The most recent tenant to leave was Regal Cinemas, which pulled out in February, citing a steady attendance decline caused by the 2011 construction of a state-of-the-art cinema Clifton Park, which pulled many of the Latham cinema's movie-goers. The developer would like to maintain the theater complex, said Hebert, and is searching for a new operator.

Originally constructed in 1957 as the Latham Corners Shopping Center, the mall was renovated several times throughout its history. In 1977, a notable renovation transformed the space into one of the nations earliest fully enclosed and temperature controlled indoor shopping malls.

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Demolition makes way for the new Shoppes at Latham