Carousel Center
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Image:CarouselCenter.jpg Carousel Center is a 1.5 million square foot (140,000 m²), seven-story super-regional shopping and entertainment complex on the shore of Onondaga Lake in Syracuse, New York. It has eight anchor store slots - currently filled with Best Buy, Circuit City, Bon Ton, H&M, JC Penney, Kaufmann's (soon to be Macy's), and Lord & Taylor, and Sports Authority. Other large stores include Borders, CompUSA, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Old Navy, and Against All Odds. In addition, there is a seventeen-screen Regal movie complex, a Bally Total Fitness, and around 150 other retail stores. It opened on October 15, 1990. In 2006, Kaufmann's will become Macy's. It is the Syracuse Area's largest tourist destination.
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Mall layout
Of the six above ground and one underground floor, the top two floors are devoted to rentable event space, DestiNY USA, and scenic overlook of the Syracuse area. The top floor, referred to as the Skydeck, has held a number of events over the years and now is used extensively by the new DestiNY USA employees.
The fourth floor is primarily mall offices, although much of its physical space is taken up by movie theaters, which are accessed from the third floor. The first and second floors span the length of the mall and house the various shops, vendors, retaurants and entertainment venues, with the major food court and namesake carousel being located on the second floor. The underground "Commons" floor houses six medium-sized stores, a chapel, some kiosks, and the two underground parking garages, one of which also houses Circuit City and Best Buy's installation centers.
The mall has ample outside parking surrounding the mall on all sides, as well as one above ground and two underground parking garages. The mall also has its own station on the local commuter rail line, OnTrack, and is served by CENTRO busses. There are main entrances on all sides, as well as access through the anchor stores and from the underground parking.
The name
The name of the shopping center is dervied from a fully-operational and hand-restored 1909 carousel situated prominently in the mall. Bearing 42 wooden horses (38 of which move mechanically), the elaborately carved and painted carousel operates daily in the front of the mall on the second floor, with large windows displaying the carousel to the north and offering riders a raised view of the outside. The mall has restored the 30-ton carousel to its full color splendor, restored operation to the mechanical band, and children and adults alike can take rides on it
Originally known as Carousel No. 18, and built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, this attraction provides the shopping center with its unique name and is only one of the reasons that the mall attracted more than 17 million visitors in 2001. The carousel was purchased from it's former home, Roseland Park in Canandaigua, New York, when the park ceased operations in 1985.
DestiNY USA
The Carousel Center is currently making headlines throughout the county as its developer, The Pyramid Companies is attempting to turn it into the largest entertainment complex in the country, even surpassing Minnesota's Mall of America. Plans, which currently include over 4.5 million square feet (400,000 m²), consist of 20,000 hotel rooms, an indoor aquarium, an indoor re-creation of the Erie Canal, a stadium and performing arts center, three golf courses, and a 100 acre (400,000 m²) glass-enclosed indoor park. The project has encountered a number of delays and has yet to get underway, however company officials assure the public that the massive project is moving forward. (See DestiNY USA for more on this aspect of Carousel Center.)
The Pyramid Cos. claim this resort would create around 120,000 new jobs and bring millions of tourists to the Syracuse area; this could be a significant economic boost to the region, which has been hard hit by corporations downsizing or leaving altogether.
Additional facts
- The Carousel Center was home to the last-built and last-existing Bonwit Teller store. It closed in 2000, and was replaced by H&M. Some of its glamour can still be noted, such as elegant railings and a covered drive-up.
- The 1997 movie Blowin' Smoke, originally titled Freak Talks About Sex, contains many scenes filmed at the mall. The mall is also mentioned in the 2000 movie Snow Day.
- The Carousel Center has its own zip code, 13290, and post office. This post office operates as a "postal store," and is thus open regular mall hours, including Sundays and holidays.