Dec. 03–CENTRAL VALLEY — The owners of Woodbury Common Premium Outlets have proposed another expansion of the international shopping mecca shortly after finishing the last one, submitting plans that include two hotels, a second parking garage with a helipad, and yet more stores and restaurants.
The expansion would be the mall's sixth since it opened in 1985 near the intersection of routes 17 and 32 and Thruway Exit 16.
It currently has more than 250 stores, draws around 13 million visitors a year and is one of the Hudson Valley's busiest tourist destinations, making it also a geyser of sales-tax revenue for Orange County and its municipalities.
The owners, Simon Property Group, plan to add more than 140,000 square feet of retail space with their next project, which would push the total store space in Woodbury Common beyond 1 million square feet, according to initial documents submitted to the Woodbury Planning Board and set to be discussed at a board meeting on Wednesday.
Also in their proposal: a pair of 120-room hotels, a spa, a five-story parking garage, and a large extension of the four-story garage built in the last expansion.
The net parking gain, after the loss of lot spaces for new construction, is 2,140 spots — a 32 percent jump in what the center now has.
According to their plans, the owners hope to start construction by mid-2020 and finish by the end of 2023, more than three years later.
In a short statement about the new plans on Friday, David Mistretta, Woodbury Common's general manager, said, "We are in the planning stages of a project which will be focused on new enhancements for our world-renowned center. We are committed to continually addressing our customers' expectations and delivering to them a best in class experience."
The plans, still in their infancy and subject to change, come in the midst of a major overhaul of the Route 17 interchange next to the mall.
Though that complex construction work has made traffic chaotic on Route 17 and Route 32 at Exit 131, the end product is expected to speed the flow of vehicles at that busy entrance to Orange County — including the stream of vehicles exiting Woodbury Common.
Woodbury Mayor Michael Queenan said Friday that recent road improvements inside the shopping complex already have improved traffic flow, and that the dispersal of traffic on Black Friday, with stores now opening on Thanksgiving, has alleviated what was once an annual traffic nightmare in Woodbury.
He said he didn't expect the new expansion proposal to worsen traffic again by increasing the number of incoming vehicles.
"I think the traffic we get there now is about max," Queenan said.
Woodbury already has several pending proposals for new hotels, each a potential revenue source with the Town of Woodbury's tax on overnight hotel stays.
Queenan said building two hotels at Woodbury Common "makes a lot of sense," and argued there is enough tourism in the region, including at West Point to the north, to support new hotels both at Woodbury Common and elsewhere in Woodbury.