Demolition of Latham Circle Mall under way, new shopping centers planned

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

Demolition of Latham Circle Mall continues Wednesday, March 13, 2013 to make room for new addition to the mall in Latham. (J.S.Carras/The Record)

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

Despite the nearby demolition, JCPenney's and Lowe's will remain, said Sara Wiest, Colonies public information officer. After Schenectady-based Jackson Demolition 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, Hebert said. The buildings will face 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, however, 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, 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 in Clifton Park. The developer would like to maintain the theater complex, Hebert said, 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 of Latham Circle Mall under way, new shopping centers planned