Shoppers walking through Aviation Mall will soon lose access to its interior corridors. The Town of Queensbury has ordered the walkways closed to the public starting November 16, saying code and safety violations at the Glens Falls-area shopping center have not been adequately fixed.
The town said there has not been substantial enough progress made to correct said violations, according to WNYT. Stores with external entrances — JC Penney, Target, Planet Fitness and Ollies — are being allowed to remain open, but access to the mall from inside those stores will be unavailable once the corridors close.
Queensbury officials said correcting the code violations and protecting public safety remain the primary concern, while also acknowledging that the closure may significantly affect tenants, employees and the surrounding community, the station reported.
Mall's Operator Says Fixes Are Underway
Ariel Jacobov, a representative of Concord Capital New York LLC, the company that operates Aviation Mall, said the mall has until November 16 to remedy the violations before any ordered closure takes effect. Jacobov said the company has additional staff and contractor vendors who will be working to complete the punch-list given by the town.
Jacobov added that the company expects to have the items requested resolved by next week and a reinspection completed, per the same WNYT report. It remains to be seen whether that timeline will be enough to avoid the corridor closure altogether.
A Mall That Changed Hands After Foreclosure
Aviation Mall's ownership shakeup is recent. The property went on the block in a foreclosure auction and sold for $21 million, with the winning bid coming from Rockland County investor Ariel Eric Jacob, president of Concord Capital New York, according to a separate WNYT report on the sale.
That same reporting noted that Aviation Mall has struggled in recent years with high store turnover and declining foot traffic — a backdrop that frames why the new ownership group is now racing to clear a town punch-list before an enforcement deadline. Under the Town of Queensbury's code enforcement chapter, officials are authorized to issue violation orders and pursue administrative enforcement actions, including orders under § 88B-19A of the town code, according to Town of Queensbury Code, Chapter 88B.
For now, the stores with outside doors — JC Penney, Target, Planet Fitness and Ollies — are expected to keep serving customers as usual. What happens to the rest of the mall's interior corridors after November 16 will depend on whether Concord Capital's repair push satisfies the town's reinspection.
