Oyster Bay grants key approvals to advance $200M renovation of former Broadway Mall
A rendering of The Shops on Broadway in Hicksville, which would redevelop the Broadway Commons shopping mall into an open-air concept. Credit: K/BTF Broadway LLC
A $200 million plan to transform the former Broadway Mall into an open-air concept moved closer to reality after winning key approvals from the Town of Oyster Bay.
The Shops on Broadway, as it would be called, needed five variances to advance, including allowances for fewer parking spaces than town code requires. The approvals, given at the board’s meeting Thursday night, are considered the final municipal hurdles to overhaul a property that has struggled for years with vacancies.
Developers plan to knock down the vacant 300,000-square-foot former Macy’s department store and other retail to create a 1.3 million-square-foot mall and entertainment space. Bram Weber, an attorney for the developer, K/BTF Broadway LLC, said demolition is the next step in the redevelopment process.
The plan also includes adding a new BJ's Wholesale and a fueling station.
Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino in a statement said the mall plan “will further transform Broadway Commons into a shopping and entertainment destination, continuing the transformation of downtown Hicksville.”
The town is in the process of revitalizing the area surrounding Hicksville’s busy Long Island Rail Road station, which is about a mile from the mall. Oyster Bay began a multimillion-dollar project last year to improve walkability and create pedestrian areas beneath the railroad trestle.
"These final approvals are a win for the Town and the community and are due to Town leadership, ownership's commitment to delivering a transformative project, and to the Hicksville civic associations and their leadership who supported the project throughout," Weber said.
The developer sought exceptions from town code. The mall currently has 4,848 parking spots, but the new proposal includes 4,092 spaces. Town code requires 8,315 spots at the site. Civic leaders and traffic experts said parking won't be an issue, even after new businesses move in.
There is a proposed roughly 93,000-square-foot expansion of the existing 241,000-square-foot Ikea on the property. The developer needed a variance to allow parking under a potential second-floor expansion of the store.
In addition, the developer asked for entertainment businesses to be allowed to operate until 1 a.m., matching the rules in place for Round1 Bowling & Arcade, which is an existing mall tenant.
The project also received variances for lighting and architectural height.
For years, the mall has struggled with vacancies. Macy's closed in 2020 and Old Navy left the site in 2023. UBS Group AG, a Swiss bank, sold the mall in February 2024.
Joseph Ostapiuk covers the Town of Oyster Bay and the city of Glen Cove. He joined Newsday in 2023 after spending more than six years at the Staten Island Advance.
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