Main Street Revisited

Sears Store becomes Shoppes on Main

by Jason Feldman

A former Sears at 275 Main St. in White Plains, N.Y., is being upgraded and will become The Shoppes on Main.

The approximately $17 million project, which began construction in fall 2003, ended its first phase in August.

Most of the work has been to the building's main infrastructure, which was neglected for 40 years, said Frank Forcino, project manager for Pavarini Construction Co. Inc., the project's Stamford, Conn.-based general contractor. The current work is getting the facility ready for tenants to move in and prepare their own fit-outs. No tenant announcements have been made to date.

Situated between two larger office towers, the Main Street building is three stories tall with six stories above it serving as a parking lot. In addition, the building shares its HVAC and electrical feeds with the two towers.

The first phase of construction freed the building's utilities from the two towers.

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Brian Tobiasz, executive vice president of construction for Montvale, N.J.-based Ivy Equities Inc., the project's owner, called the separation of electrical utilities "one of the larger undertakings of the project," which "took a lot of hard work to accomplish."

The work consisted of installation of all new switch gear, new transformers, new wiring throughout the building and new feeds coming in from the street. In addition, a new electrical penthouse was constructed.

The three buildings also shared an HVAC system, which was inadequate. "On the HVAC end, we installed a new cooling tower and condensing system and then we bypassed the existing chilled water system," Tobiasz said. Other work included new ductwork and a new fire alarm system.

While the underlying infrastructure problems were being addressed, the interior of the facility had to be demolished to make way for the future tenants.

Interior renovation included replacing the HVAC and electrical components, redoing finishes and demolishing the old escalators, Tobiasz added.

Renovations were also made to the old Sears Tire and Battery Center, and significant work was put into the parking lot above the structure.

"We remediated and restored the entire parking structure," Forcino said. The work included correcting the floors and adding expansion joints, as well as new roofing. New traffic patterns will be painted, new lighting will be installed and security will be improved.

Exterior work on the building will be left to the tenants, which as of right now has not been determined," Tobiasz said. "Any exterior modifications and the work would be tenant driven." He added that new signage and possibly landscaping would be part of the job.

The main crux of the project has been the new locations of elevators and escalators.

"We have had a lot of input from future tenants about the placement of elevators," Tobiasz said. One of the main concerns that future tenants had was enough elevators from the rooftop parking lot down into common areas. Another concern was how shopping carts would be brought back to the right store.

"The main elements will be two elevators, one for passengers and one for cargo," said Tobiasz.