Initial Construction and Early Success (1990)
The St. Lawrence Centre, developed by the Heritage Company, opened in 1990 in Massena, New York. The mall was designed to serve a thriving local economy driven by the Alcoa aluminum plants and cross-border shopping from Cornwall, Ontario. The construction cost reached $50 million. The mall covered over 548,000 square feet and featured five anchor stores.
The retail environment in Massena in 1990 supported the launch. With strong manufacturing employment and steady Canadian traffic, the mall filled quickly. Hills, a regional discount chain, took one of the anchor spots. National chains, like Payless ShoeSource and JCPenney, moved in as other anchor tenants.
In its first few years, St. Lawrence Centre performed well. Occupancy rates stayed high, and customer traffic remained consistent.
The strong base of commercial tenants attracted visitors from Massena and nearby towns. Retailers benefitted from reliable sales driven by steady local employment and Canadian shoppers crossing the St. Lawrence River.
National chains and small shops coexisted, drawing steady business until the mid-1990s. Things to do in the north of New York State included a visit to the St. Lawrence Centre for shopping, dining, and entertainment.
Early Financial Struggles and Ownership Changes (1995-2003)
In 1995, ownership shifted when AP Massena Partners bought St. Lawrence Centre. This change marked the beginning of the mall’s financial challenges.
The local economy wasn’t as strong as before, leading to occupancy rates dropping to 75%. Stores started closing, and the mall struggled to keep up its former vibrancy.
During this period, smaller retailers couldn’t sustain their operations, and the mall began to look emptier with each passing year.
In September 2003, Carlyle Development Group stepped in and purchased the mall for $3.6 million. This sale was a fraction of the original construction cost, reflecting the mall’s financial trouble.
Starting in February 2004, Carlyle brought in General Growth Properties to manage the center. Despite efforts to revive the business, the mall continued to suffer from declining foot traffic and weak leasing activity.
The struggle to keep national tenants in place became harder as companies weighed the risks of remaining in an underperforming location. The overall atmosphere in the mall changed, and the high hopes of the 1990 opening faded into ongoing uncertainty.
Anchor Store Closures and Failed Redevelopment Attempts (1998-2009)
The first major hit came in 1998 when Hills, one of the original anchor stores, closed. Ames took over the space, but that chain itself went out of business in 2002.
This left a large vacant area that was difficult to fill. The space briefly found a new occupant in Steve & Barry’s from 2007 to 2008, but it didn’t last.
During this time, local leaders and the mall’s owners explored options to stabilize the retail environment. In 2006, they pushed for Walmart to move in using eminent domain, but the plan faced opposition and didn’t move forward.
By 2009, the mall owners floated the idea of bringing in a Target store, but the proposal stalled due to a lack of funding and retailer interest.
Despite attempts to attract big-name stores, nothing concrete emerged. The once-promising location faced ongoing challenges. The gradual loss of retail options marked this period as one where momentum shifted away from retail and toward an uncertain future for the property.
Decline of National Chains and Rise of Local Businesses (2011-2017)
Between 2011 and 2012, several national chains exited St. Lawrence Centre. TJ Maxx, a key anchor since the mall’s early days, closed its doors. Other retailers followed suit, leaving more vacancies.
By 2014, the situation got worse when Sears shut down. It was briefly replaced by a Sears Hometown Store, which closed in 2017.
The mall’s ice rink, once a popular attraction, closed in August 2016 due to mechanical failures. What remained of the rink later turned into a multi-use sports arena, but the change didn’t bring back the crowds.
After Payless ShoeSource shut its doors in the spring of 2017, the outlook for St. Lawrence Centre grew even bleaker. Alcoa, once a major employer in the region, had scaled back operations to just one of its former plants, resulting in fewer local jobs.
Canadian shoppers, who once regularly crossed the border, have also dwindled, further draining the mall’s customer base. With these factors combined, many in the Massena community consider the mall’s decline irreversible.
Faced with empty spaces, St. Lawrence Centre management tried a new strategy: focusing on local businesses.
These new tenants included North Country Showcase, which sold products from regional artists, a specialty popcorn store run by a local Mohawk tribe member, and other niche businesses like a chainsaw-carved statue shop.
This period saw the mall shift away from national chains and rely more on local entrepreneurs. While some of these new businesses found success during the 2017 holiday season, the overall direction still leaned toward decline.
The Struggle to Revive St. Lawrence Centre
By 2018, the community openly questioned whether the mall could survive. The once-bustling mall faced harsh criticism from locals who doubted it could ever recover. Erica Leonard, hired by a Canadian investment group that purchased the property, pushed back against this pessimism.
One creative highlight was converting the empty Sears space into a Christmas village for the holidays, complete with decorations made from cardboard refrigerator boxes. It was a local project that temporarily revived interest.
Still, these efforts couldn’t stop the mall’s decline. Bon-Ton, another anchor store, closed in early 2018, leaving JCPenney as the last large retailer.
Even with improvements, overall foot traffic remained low. The lack of major chains limited the draw for casual shoppers, and the space grew increasingly underused.
As the years went by, it became clear that the mall’s traditional retail model couldn’t be sustained. Local businesses couldn’t generate the kind of revenue needed to maintain the large commercial space.
While Leonard’s efforts brought some life back to St. Lawrence Centre, the broader economic reality was too much to overcome.
Final Closures and Transformation into Industrial Use
As more stores shut down, the mall faced a critical turning point. By 2023, little was left to attract shoppers, and Maurice’s, one of the last mid-sized retailers, closed its doors.
The few businesses that stuck around mostly served niche local interests, and even those struggled to stay afloat. The property owners finally decided the traditional retail model wasn’t working anymore.
The interior demolition began on April 30, 2024. The owners rebranded the site as the St. Lawrence Industrial Complex. This shift marked the end of the mall’s retail era and its transformation into a warehouse and shipping hub.
The Montreal-based Groupe Shapiro is leading the effort, investing over $1 million to repurpose the property into an industrial complex.
The new industrial complex offers high ceilings, open spaces, and multiple loading docks, making it an attractive site for warehousing and light manufacturing.
The St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency (SLCIDA) has been involved in the redevelopment, noting that the 600,000 square feet available for various uses present real opportunities for Massena. Self-storage, alongside other commercial uses, is also part of the plan.
The first tenant, Columbia Frame Distribution, has already moved in, signaling the start of this new chapter. The owners remain optimistic about the property’s future.
While retail might be a thing of the past, the latest industrial direction aims to give the space a renewed purpose in the local economy.