Battle of the Oyster Bay Mall redux

Debated for 17 years.  Rejected by the Town of Oyster Bay.  Overruled by the state's highest court.

 None of that is stopping Taubman Centers Inc., one of the nation's biggest shopping center developers, from renewing its push to build a 750,000-square-foot luxury mall at the former Cerro Wire site in Syosset.

   The $700-million Mall at Oyster Bay, the company argues, would create 3,500 construction jobs and 2,000 permanent retail jobs, and generate about $30 million annually in local sales and real estate tax revenue at a time when the region needs an economic and employment boost.

 It would be the first new large-scale mall construction on Long Island since 1997, when Westbury's The Mall at The Source opened.  The $440-million Tanger Outlets at the Arches, opened in 2008 in Deer Park, is a designer outlet outdoor mall.

   Town officials and residents living near the Syosset site say a mall would diminish their quality of life, create traffic congestion, offer retail jobs with minimal pay and deprive the area of needed young-adult and senior housing that could be built on the site.

   Over the years, the Taubman-Cerro Wire saga has become the archetype of the battle over development on Long Island, pitting developers' promises of economic benefits against residents' fears that their quality of life would suffer.

   But the timing of Taubman's new push -- when the region is beginning to emerge from recession -- is in the company's favor, said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD Group, a Port Washington-based market research firm.  "Consumers are looking for places to spend money as they move out of 'frugal fatigue,'" he said.

   No public funding

   The mall would be built with private funding, gaining it greater favor than publicly financed projects such as the stalled Nassau Coliseum redevelopment, Cohen said.  

   Chief operating officer Bill Taubman touted the project for "regional significance" designation at the Nov. 1 meeting of the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council, a group of political and business leaders that develops plans for growth and job creation.

   The renewed mall effort surprised opponents of the development.  Hundreds of them, including town Supervisor John Venditto, protested at the property on Nov. 6.

   Venditto earlier this month said the project will continue to meet resistance.  "We have the economic issues and the quality-of-life issues," he said.  "From the standpoint of the town government and ...the residents who live here, the quality-of-life issues still outweigh the economic issues. "

   The fight over the 39-acre Robbins Lane lot, now overgrown with weeds and surrounded by a rusting fence and barbed wire, has raged since Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Taubman bought the property in 1994 and said it wanted to build a mall.

   The town rejected the project on environmental grounds a decade ago.  After years of litigation, a state appeals court upheld that decision in 2009.

   Bill Taubman would not say when he planned to restart the town approval process.  He said he is concentrating on building consensus.

   "If we're able to build a broad-based coalition of people who are sensible-thinking and willing to commit to trying to move the economy of Long Island forward in a sensible and thoughtful way, then I think that at the end of the day, we will be successful," he said.

 Nordstrom to be anchor

   The mall is to be anchored by Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Barneys New York.  Officials for Nordstrom confirmed the retailer is still onboard; Neiman Marcus and Barneys declined to comment.

   The development council on Nov. 10 endorsed the mall as one of seven projects of regional significance.

   Taubman representatives have sought support from more than a dozen regional business and labor groups, including the Building & Construction Trades Council of Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

   "We're getting a reputation as an island where nothing is getting done," said Peter Goldsmith, chairman of the Melville-based Long Island Software and Technology Network.  "Let's get people to sit down -- not just people who say no for no's sake -- and let's get something that will work for the area. "

   Community groups opposed to the project, organized as the Cerro Wire Coalition, favor a mixed-use development with residences, a hotel, and office and retail space.

   "Discussion should be within the community for the betterment of the community and the betterment of Long Island," said coalition chairman Todd Fabricant of East Norwich.

   But Taubman said his company was best positioned to develop the site.  "There is no other form of development that has a private-sector developer with the financial capability to build on this site," he said.

   The Taubman company is well-capitalized and has a strong track record for successful developments, said Alexander Goldfarb, an analyst with Sandler O'Neill + Partners.  "The Taubman portfolio generates the highest sales per square foot of any of the publicly traded companies," he said.

   Taubman has built more than 20 malls, including a luxury mall in Short Hills, N.J. Its Salt Lake City project is the only mall currently under construction in the U.S.