Queens Place Mall


Queens Place is an urban shopping mall in Elmhurst, Queens, New York. Just northwest of the larger Queens Center, it is located on Queens Boulevard between 55th and 56th Avenues. The building was constructed in 1965 as Macy's and was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. It was later converted to Stern's, due to Macy's of Elmhurst moving into Queens Center, as part of Macy's dissolving of Abraham & Straus, in 1994, and then, as a result of Macy's dissolving Stern's in 2001, closed by Federated Department Stores. Today its flagship stores are Best Buy, DSW, Inc., and Target, and it contains many smaller stores such as Red Lobster, Dunkin Donuts, and Mrs. Fields' Cookies.

History

On December 22, 2017 Queens Place was acquired by Madison International Realty from Forest City Realty Trust. The real estate private equity firm had previously acquired a 49% stake in the Forest City portfolio in 2011 and purchased the remaining 51% in 2017 to make Madison International Realty one of the largest retail landlords in New York. French bank Natixis refinanced the property with a $100 million loan in April 2018.

Architecture and design

Queens Place is bounded by Queens Boulevard to the southwest, 56th Avenue to the south, 92nd Street to the east, Justice Avenue to the northeast, and 55th Avenue to the north and northwest. The main entrance to the Queens Place Mall faces Queens Boulevard, while there is a parking garage entrance on 56th Avenue and 92nd Street. Queens Center is one block southeast on Queens Boulevard, between 57th and 59th avenues.
The building was originally planned to be completely round. However, Mary Sendek—the owner of the corner house at 55th Avenue and Queens Boulevard—held out and refused to sell the property, her childhood home. Subsequently, the mall was reconfigured with a small notch on one corner, around Sendek's house. Sendek continued to live in the small house until her death in 1980.

Transportation

The mall is near the Grand Avenue–Newtown station on the New York City Subway's. The Mall is also serviced by the Q59 and Q60 bus routes.