The property was originally the only Queens location of Alexander's, a New York City department store. Caldor had bought up the location and was in the processes of opening their store in the fall of 1995 but those plans were stalled when the chain filed for bankruptcy that year. Phase II of the mall, which is an annex to the already open Phase I, opened on March 3, 2010 with of retail space. Costco with, Century 21 with, and T.J. Maxx have opened. Retailers also include Bed Bath and Beyond, IKEA, Marshalls, Old Navy and Burlington Coat Factoryin Phase I. An Aldi supermarket also opened on level 1 in February 2011. The nearest competitor malls are Queens Center and Queens Place Mall. , Vornado Realty Trust, the mall's owner, is developing a 24-story, 314-unit residential tower named The Alexanderon top of the mall's phase II, due to a surge in young professionals moving into the area. About 20% of the units are studio apartments, with the rest being one- and two-bedroom apartments. On January 4, 2017, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 150 stores nationwide. The store closed in April 2017. A year later, in March 2018, Toys "R" Us announced that it would close all of its US stores, including the location at Rego Center. The site was then occupied by a toy store called Toy City, operated byParty City. In January 2019, Kohl's announced that its store at Rego Center would be closing along with 3 other stores nationwide. The store closed on April 13, 2019. In September 2019, IKEA announced plans to convert the former Sears into its third New York City location.
Withdrawals
withdrew from the rental deal with Vornado in late 2008 due to drop in profit. The space vacated by Home Depot was replaced by Costco. This is Costco's fifth location in New York City and second in Queens. In 2005, Walmart had been dropped as a potential tenant, as an early part of its bid to open a store within New York City. Opposition by various groups killed the plan.
Layout
The following layout of retail space is taken from Vornado's Property website.
Level 3: Century 21, Lenora Furniture, T.J. Maxx, Bed Bath and Beyond, Old Navy, Burlington Coat Factory