Shoppers who have been clamoring for more retail stores and improved traffic flow at Midway Shopping Center may soon be getting their wish.
The owner of the plaza at 1001 Central Ave. in Greenburgh is proposing building two additional structures to keep up with customer demand.
The 246,981-square-foot shopping plaza, managed by Greenwich-based Urstadt Biddle Properties and owned by Lyle Steinberg, would also make it easier for cars and pedestrians to get around. It would be the first major parking renovation in 20 years at the shopping center, which was built in the 1950s.
The parking area would be reconfigured to provide improved traffic flow as well as better pedestrian access by closing one driveway that provides access to Central Avenue. Shoppers had complained of congestion and difficulty maneuvering vehicles in a cramped parking lot.
“We want to improve the overall traffic circulation,” Willing Biddle, president of Urstadt Biddle Properties said. “We want to make the lot more user-friendly.”
The shopping center, which has 15 retail stores and restaurants, is anchored by a 69,000-square-foot Shop Rite supermarket that opened in June 2010.
“We always have a lot of requests from shoppers for different kinds of stores and we”™ve had inquiries by tenants looking for space that we can”™t accommodate,” Biddle said, noting the shopping center is currently 100 percent leased. “We are looking to improve the tenant mix to better serve the shoppers of the area.”
The first building proposed to be constructed would be a 10,800-square-foot structure on the northwest corner, with 5,400 square feet of ground floor retail and 5,400 square feet of second-floor restaurant space with outdoor seating. Another 3,500-square-foot restaurant/retail space would be built near the southeast corner of the shopping center.
Urstadt Biddle declined to disclose a cost for the project. However, Midway Shopping Center recently received a $32 million mortgage from NorthMarq Capital L.L.C. Financing was based on a 15-year term with two five-year options and a 25-year amortization schedule, according to NorthMarq.
Plans were recently submitted to the town, with hopes of construction beginning sometime in the summer or fall. Construction is expected to take six months. Midway will request a parking waiver, as renovations would leave 1,182 parking spaces, instead of the 1,481 required at the site.
