Marketplace Mall Medical Campus and Mixed-Use Conversion

 

Malls across the country are finding new life as the tradition retail centers of suburban living have fallen on economic distress. The Marketplace Mall in Henrietta is currently under major construction. A new University of Rochester Medical Campus for ambulatory orthopedic care is being built at the former site of Sears.

The Rochester area had a handful of large malls including the Mall at Greece Ridge, Eastview Mall, the Medley Centre in Irondiquoit, which closed in 2010, and the Marketplace Mall in Henrietta. The Medley Centre, after closing in 2010 has been attempting to redevelop into a community and recreation center with gymnasium, dance studio, community meeting space, and an athletic field with artificial turf. The space is now called Skyview on the Ridge.

 The Marketplace Mall has had trouble attracting traditional retail outlets in conjunction with the so-called "Death of Retail", malls across the country have had to reinvent themselves. Some have been able to double down on more luxury and boutique business, others have been trying to attract non-traditional mall occupants, such as the go-kart track that is occupying the former area of the Bon-Ton. The Marketplace Mall is also looking into redeveloping into a mixed-use space with space for senior housing with 150 units. The Village of Henrietta approved the plan to allow mixed-use development at the site of Marketplace Mall following a public hearing in the March of this year.

Rochester has also been hit hard as a result of the previous recession, losing such tent-pole industries as Kodak, Xerox, and Bausch and Lomb. The largest employer in Rochester today is the University of Rochester by a large margin, followed by Rochester Regional Health and Wegmans.


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