SYRACUSE, New York: Destiny USA is the largest mall in New York, with a six-story structure next to Lake Onondaga. Its attraction is WonderWorks, a 40,000-square-foot theme park where kids can experience a simulated earthquake, learn about space travel in an astronaut suit, or play on the laser tag.
They could, that is, until the state had the mall close many of the attractions in November for the second time last year to offset the Covid-19. Currently, only 18% of the space rented to entertainment tenants is open, said a spokesman for the mall owner, Pyramid Management Corps.
Adding theme park-like attractions was a strategy Pyramid considered crucial to attracting pedestrian traffic and reversing the many-year struggles of mall operators struggling with online shopping. Now, the strategy seems less of a lifeline and more of a millstone.
While new pandemic measures have allowed the mall’s stores to reopen, regulations have kept many of its leisure attractions closed. Privately owned Pyramid borrowed heavily to expand and build entertainment extravaganzas in Destiny USA and another mall, the Palisades Center in West Nyack, New York, and bills will be obtained.
In April, the pyramid schemes operating the two malls died in securitized debt called mortgage-backed commercial securities or CMBS, according to real estate data provider Trepp LLC, which eventually negotiated extensions and deferrals.