Amid speculation about the direction of the Latham Circle Mall, its tenants and customers expressed hope for the shopping center’s future.
Juan Colon, who runs Proline Promotion, a shop that sells tire rims and car accessories located on the Burlington Coat Factory side of the mall, said he does not want to leave the Latham Circle Mall, calling it a good location for his business.
A Clifton Park resident, Colon said he rarely scopes out the rest of the mall and keeps to his side, but he used to frequent a number of stores before they moved out.
As bad as it is, it still has potential, he said. `I love this mall. I’ll be out of here [only] when they lock me out.`
The mall’s remaining stores: anchors J.C. Penney, Lowe’s, Regal Cinemas and the Burlington Coat Factory, are joined by the All Star Driving School, women’s clothing shops Avenue and DEB, Albany Aikido, a martial art’s studio, NY Gear, Proline Promotion, Blade Master, which deals in sporting and collectable goods, insurance company Dinsmore Agency, Kermit Hayes Photography, John Lee Auction Service, The Gift Wagon, and One Step Above hair salon.
The food court no longer has any tenants.
William Leppert runs the property from an office on the Burlington side. He works for Key Point Partners, which manages the property on behalf of Realty Financial Partners.
Leppert said that the building’s fire hazard and safety concerns are a No. 1 priority, but there are issues with the heating that he is looking into.
The town issued a formal order to fix the heating problem by Monday, Feb. 15. According to information from the town’s building department, the mall must be kept at or above 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
`We’ve taken steps to correct that,` Leppert said.
`We have made arrangements to correct the heating problems and are in the process of bringing in additional heating units to correct [the problem]. This should be in place by the end of this week, and the town has been kept advised of our intentions,` Leppert said in an e-mail on Tuesday, Feb. 16.
He said he is unsure what will happen to the mall, or if any deal with a tenant, or tenants, will be struck soon, but `Key Point is excited about the opportunity,` and are `looking to change the culture of what’s here.`
For now, shoppers scattered through the once hopping retail destination stroll casually past vacant storefronts until they land in one of the few remaining shops.
Mike Densmore, 21, of Watervliet and Laura Rahm, 19, of Latham, stopped at the mall to visit the lone hair salon there.
Densmore said he only comes to the mall for a haircut and the occasional stop at Burlington Coat Factory, which Rahm likes to patronize. Rahm said she was disappointed to see many of the shops closed, including a candy store that had reasonable prices on a number of treats.
Densmore said he no longer goes to the movie theater at the mall in favor for other locations, and would like to see a revitalized structure.
`Shut it down and make something new,` Densmore said.
Eleanor Laviolette, a Troy resident of more than 30 years said she comes to the J.C. Penney because of its location and because of the sales it runs.
`I always liked this mall,` she said. `It’s close to the highway and has good parking.`
Laviolette was making her way to Burlington Coat Factory on the other side of the mall, she said, to do a little more shopping after a stop at J.C. Penney’s.
Tenants weighed in on the state of the mall, as well.
Gloria Turner, assistant manager at One Step Above, and hair stylist of 26 years, said a strong customer base has kept the salon busy, but walk-ins from mall traffic would be helpful too, if there were more of them.
Having done business at the mall for 21 years, Turner said she would like to see the shopping center renovated, but she was unsure of its future.
Amanda Helda, manager at Avenue, said even though the mall has lost tenants in recent years, a strong customer base has kept the clothing store afloat.
The store occupied the mall for the past 20 years, Helda said.
`We really don’t get impacted,` she said.
She said she is hopeful to see more tenants and patrons visit the mall in coming months, though.
`I hope it comes alive,` she said.
She said there are leaks above the store that are causing mold to develop in the tiles, and replacing the tiles only solves the problem temporarily since the leak continues.
She would like to see the mall either fixed up or torn down to start over, she said.
Roger Gaetano, proprietor of Blade Masters, said he has been in the mall for 13 years, and was unhappy with the effort put forth by former owner Eugene Weiss.
`I watched its demise,` he said.
He said Weiss made promises about renovating and maintaining the mall that he never followed through on.
`You knew he was lying through his teeth,` Gaetano said.
`The roof was falling apart. No care, no concern, no nothing. He played a lot of games with people.`
Gaetano said he chose the location because `it’s still the best mall in the area.`
Although, he is hopeful that new owners can improve the situation, Gaetano remains skeptical.
`They can’t do much worse,` he said. `But I want to see some work done. The patience is running low.`
Mary Brizzell, who was Colonie supervisor from 1996-2008, said she hopes the mall can find success in the future.
She said the comments Weiss has made in the past about her administration blocking the mall’s success `annoyed me to no end.`
`I bent over backwards for him.` She said. `That really put me over the edge.`
Weiss had alleged that the town dragged its feet on the approval process, but Brizzell said it was concerned neighbors that contributed to a lengthy Lowe’s approval.
`Mr. Weiss billed it as ‘Lowe’s is going to save the mall,’` she said.
She said that some neighbors were skeptical of Weiss’ management and that contributed to their hesitation of having a Lowe’s on the Kunker Avenue side of the mall.
Brizzell said her administration wanted the mall to succeed, but empty promises from Weiss hurt its chances.
She also said that the planning board during her tenure was favorable to promoting business, and worked quickly and efficiently to do so.
`There’s always two sides to every story,` Brizzell.
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