January 24, 2022

Cross County Center, an outdoor retail and entertainment complex in Yonkers, New York.

By I-Chun Chen  –  Staff Reporter

SUNY Westchester Community College is expanding to 40,000 square feet of space at Cross County Center, an outdoor retail and entertainment complex, in Yonkers, New York.

Property owner and real estate developer Marx Realty said it has finalized a 10-year lease with the college, which is expanding its footprint at the center by 30,000 square feet to allow for more extensive classroom operations, including additional degree and certification programs. Westchester Community College will occupy the third floor of the new Target building at the center.

The expansion comes about a year after Marx Realty announced Target’s 40-year, 130,000-square-foot lease at the center, which Marx says was the largest retail lease in the tri-state area in 2020. The site, previously occupied by Sears, will be the retailer’s first location in Yonkers when it opens in late 2022.

Target at Cross County Center will be the retailer’s first location in Yonkers when it opens in late 2022.

The 1.15 million-square-foot Cross County Center is jointly owned by Marx Realty and Benenson Capital Management and was the first open-air shopping center in the United States, according to Marx Realty.

Cross County Center has signed several new and expanded leases in the last year. Forever 21 signed a 29,720-square-foot lease, and Armani Exchange signed a seven-year renewal for its 5,025-square-foot space in the center. Also renewing their leases at the center were Express, American Eagle, Cohen’s Fashion Optical, Five Guys and local dessert shop Cookies’N’Cream. H&M also signed a 10-year lease renewal to occupy 28,000 square feet where the retailer has incorporated its urban Soho concept and is investing $5 million in the location.

“Foot traffic at the center remained robust even as the nation in general, and the retail sector more specifically, were recovering from the pandemic,” Marx Realty President and CEO Craig Deitelzweig said in a statement. “The open-air experience combined with the diverse tenant mix and our vision for the future of this asset have caught the eye of major retailers, eateries and experiential users and we are in negotiations with several well-known brands who are keen on planting a flag at Cross County.”