Olean Center Mall targeted for rehab by Rochester developer

Three years after the city of Olean recruited his assistance with the Olean Center Mall, Rochester developer Angelo M. Ingrassia unveiled initial plans to redevelop the 355,000-square-foot enclosed shopping center northeast of the city’s downtown.

That is a major goal of the city, and would address significant vacancy at the mall. But it is also a major challenge facing not just Ingrassia, but also the owners of the Boulevard Mall in Amherst, the Eastern Hills Mall in Clarence and McKinley Mall in Hamburg.

Ingrassia and his attorney, Stephen Hall of Olean, admit as much. They envision a long-term approach that is deliberately short on detail right now, while pledging not to promise what they cannot deliver.

“We do not know the answer in its entirety, and if we do this right, at this point, we cannot know,” Hall wrote in a letter to the Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency, seeking tax breaks for a project that could ultimately total nearly $29 million. “What we will not do is seek to force reality to conform to any plan we conceive.”

Located at 400-459 North Union St., alongside Olean Creek and just blocks from the central intersection of Union and State streets, the mall was developed by George Zamias and opened in 1976. It still has significant leases for Kohl’s and J.C. Penney, as well as a KeyBank branch, Bath & Body Works, FYE, Kay Jewelers, and several other retailers, but it is about 40% empty for much of the year.

Hall wrote that Ingrassia’s plans involve not a “comeback of a large concentration of bricks and mortar retail space” – which he described as the “definition of insanity” – but a staged rehab whose details are still in flux beyond the $9.55 million first stage. And he cited the developer’s experience redeveloping the Irondequoit Mall north of Rochester as an example of prior success.

Ingrassia spent most of his career in car sales, owning several dealerships in the Rochester, Finger Lakes and Western New York regions, including Joe Cecconi’s Chrysler in Niagara Falls. He began shifting to real estate in 2007, selling his last car franchise in 2018, and now owns and manages over 4 million square feet of retail shopping center space in Upstate New York, as well as a 194-unit senior complex and the former Radisson Hotel in Rochester.

At Irondequoit, he renovated the former Sears building and built an interconnected structure to create a 167-unit senior residence in partnership with PathStone Corp., and also built a 51,000-square-foot community center for the town and a new transit hub for the Rochester Regional Transportation Authority. Even so, Hall wrote, “we have many miles to go on the path.”

Ingrassia’s Olean Town Center LLC acquired the 27-acre mall for $370,000. He plans to first demolish portions of the former Bon-Ton Department Store,for $595,000, and then rebuild and renovate the remaining portion to provide 20,700 square feet of new space for retail tenants.

Additionally, Ingrassia plans to construct a new mall entrance, replace the existing but compromised roof system and make other improvements or upgrades to both the interior and exterior of the mall. And he will enhance the parking area by reducing the amount of pavement and replacing it with greenspace, with connections to the street and Olean Creek.

He is also selling a two-acre parcel of land at the northwest corner of the property, adjacent to Delaware Avenue, to People Inc., for construction of a multi-story affordable-housing building with 60 to 65 units. Originally contemplated as senior housing, it will now be open to the general population for workforce housing. But that wasn’t part of his tax-break application or approval.

To support the first phase of his project, he received $427,732 in sales tax breaks, $56,250 in mortgage-recording tax relief and a property-tax arrangement from CCIDA. He also has $2 million from Empire State Development Corp., while the city got a $1.25 million Restore NY grant for the project.

The project would begin this spring, with completion by December 2026, and occupancy in the second or third quarter of 2027. For the future, Ingrassia also envisions adding another 30,000 square feet of retail space, plus two quick-service restaurants with drive-thrus. Other future uses could include government offices and manufacturing, he told the IDA board.

The full $28.8 million redevelopment includes $18.27 million to renovate 157,950 square feet of retail space, $5 million to construct 6,000 square feet of new space, and additional expenses for infrastructure, furnishings and other costs. It will be funded with $25 million in bank financing and equity, plus the state grants.

“While a major undertaking faces us in Olean, we view the absence of a traditional and clear path, together with a certain degree of the unknown, not with fear or as a source of trepidation, but enthusiastically, as a blank slate and opportunity,” Hall wrote. “The Mall transformation will provide new retail and other commercial opportunities, while fostering a new mix of retail, residential and commercial land uses, and expanding Olean’s business district.”