The biggest retail story on Long Island this week happened in our own backyard. On Tuesday, July 14, the plan to transform Broadway Commons in Hicksville into the open-air Shops on Broadway went before the Oyster Bay Town Board – a $200 million redevelopment that would take the roof off one of Long Island’s original malls and return it to the way it started life in 1956.
From Mid-Island Plaza to the Shops on Broadway – Full Circle
The property opened in 1956 as the Mid-Island Shopping Plaza, an open-air center, and was enclosed decades later like nearly every mall in America. Under prior out-of-town ownership the asset drifted: vacant storefronts multiplied, restaurant tenants thinned out, and the food court closed for good this past New Year’s Eve. In 2024, a group of local investors purchased the property for just over $40 million and began planning the turnaround that is now on the table.
The plan brings the property full circle: demolish the former Macy’s and Mavis buildings, remove the roof from the majority of the existing mall, and rebuild the center around open-air streetscapes and green space. Hicksville’s mall would once again look the way its first customers saw it – updated for how people actually shop, eat, and gather today.
What the Plan Calls For
The redevelopment reshapes the entire merchandising logic of the property. The old food court becomes The District – a new open-air dining and entertainment hub with restaurants, outdoor seating, and gathering space under string lights. An open-air plaza is designed for outdoor movie nights and live performances. Family entertainment – mini-golf, indoor bounce attractions – joins the lineup.
The District at the Shops on Broadway – rendering of the planned open-air dining and gathering space.
On the anchor side, BJ’s Wholesale Club joins the property, with fuel pumps included. The three anchors guaranteed to remain tell you what is working in retail right now: Target, IKEA – which will expand as part of the redesign – and Round1 Bowling and Arcade. Value, destination furniture, and entertainment.
Just as important is what the plan removes. Total retail space shrinks by roughly 223,000 square feet, which is why the ownership group is seeking parking variances and special use permits from the town. That is not retreat – it is right-sizing. Less commodity retail square footage, more reasons to spend an afternoon on the property.
A Hearing With the Room Behind It
Attorney Bram Weber presented the plan to the town board, positioning the project as the centerpiece of the broader Hicksville transformation the town has been driving through its downtown revitalization and transit-oriented development push. Lead architect Dennis Flynn walked through a design that deliberately echoes downtown Hicksville’s new architectural language – the arch canopy, the central skylight structure, the lawn areas. As Flynn put it, “It’s now time for this mall to move to the next generation.”
The support in the room was notable. Hicksville Chamber of Commerce President Charlie Razenson and representatives of several Hicksville civic associations spoke in favor. Town Council Member Steve Labriola called the project a fantastic investment in the town, and Town Supervisor Joe Saladino told News 12 the redevelopment would enhance the experience for residents and visitors while revitalizing the area. Residents interviewed at the property made the same point in plainer terms: after decades of decline, it is time for something to happen here.
The support kept building after the gavel. In the days following the hearing, Town of Oyster Bay Council Members Vicki Walsh and Lou Imbroto both publicly welcomed the project on social media – pointing to more than $200 million in private investment and calling it a new chapter for Broadway Commons and an opportunity that will benefit the entire community. Greater Long Island’s post of the renderings drew dozens of reactions, comments, and shares within hours.
WATCH: News 12 Long Island’s video report from the hearing – renderings, the open-air plan, and reaction from Hicksville residents. Watch the video at longisland.news12.com
The board left the record open at the meeting’s conclusion, with a 20-day public comment period to follow before a decision on the special use permits. Approvals are anticipated later this year, with groundbreaking targeted for early 2027.
Why This Matters Beyond Hicksville
The Shops on Broadway is the clearest local example of the national de-malling playbook done right: buy an enclosed mall at a reset basis, shrink the retail footprint, anchor with value and experience, open it to the sky, and tie it into the momentum of a downtown that is already being rebuilt around transit. Hundreds of new housing units are planned, under construction, or complete around the Hicksville LIRR hub – and a re-imagined center at Broadway and Newbridge sits at the middle of all of it.
The corridor itself is compounding. Directly across North Broadway, the former Sears property is expected to become Long Island’s first Bass Pro Shops – a genuine regional traffic draw landing across the street just as this center reopens to the sky. Two destination projects on opposite sides of the same road do not compete for the same trip; they make the corridor the trip.
For owners elsewhere on Long Island, the lesson is the anchor mix. What survives and expands here – Target, IKEA, BJ’s, Round1 – is value and experience. What goes away is undifferentiated inline space. That is the same signal we read in the national headlines every week, playing out at full scale in Nassau County.
And for us, this one is personal. Schuckman Realty was founded in Hicksville in 1978, a few minutes from this property, and our team has been part of this project’s community outreach from the start – back in March, we presented the Special Use Permit and Site Plan applications to the Northwest Civic Association of Hicksville, which came out firmly in support of getting the mall revitalized. Watching the town, the civic groups, and a local ownership group line up behind the next generation of Hicksville retail is exactly the kind of full-circle story this market deserves.
Sources
- News 12 Long Island, “$200M makeover proposed for Hicksville’s Broadway Commons with open-air shopping, dining and entertainment” (with video report), July 15, 2026 – longisland.news12.com
- Long Island Press, “Hicksville mall eyes major redevelopment, seeks Town of Oyster Bay approvals,” July 14, 2026 – longislandpress.com
- GreaterLongIsland.com, “Developers unveil open-air vision for Broadway Commons in Hicksville,” July 2026 – greaterlongisland.com
- Greater Long Island on Facebook, “Here are the plans for the once-bustling Hicksville mall,” July 16, 2026 – facebook.com
- Councilwoman Vicki Walsh (Town of Oyster Bay) on Facebook, “Hicksville is moving forward with an exciting opportunity,” July 16, 2026 – facebook.com
- Councilman Lou Imbroto (Town of Oyster Bay) on Facebook, “A new chapter is beginning for Broadway Commons,” July 16, 2026 – facebook.com
- Northwest Civic Association of Hicksville on Facebook, meeting recap with Schuckman Realty presentation, March 14, 2026 – facebook.com
- Long Island Press, “Walls coming down at major Hicksville mall,” January 31, 2025 – longislandpress.com
- The Real Deal, “BJ’s Coming to Shops on Broadway in Hicksville,” October 30, 2024 – therealdeal.com