SYRACUSE, NY – Destiny USA is New York’s largest shopping mall, a six-story structure near Lake Onondaga. Its main attraction is WonderWorks, a 40,000-square-foot theme park where children can experience a simulated earthquake, learn about space travel wearing an astronaut costume, or play laser tag.
They could, that is, until the state made the mall close many of the attractions in November for the second time last year to contain Covid-19. Only 18% of the space rented to entertainment renters is currently open, said a spokesman for the mall’s owner, Pyramid Management Cos.
Adding similar attractions to theme parks was a strategy Pyramid saw as crucial in attracting pedestrian traffic and reversing the struggles of years of shopping mall operators struggling against online shopping. Now, the strategy seems less like a lifeline and more like a millstone.
Even when new pandemic measures allowed the mall’s stores to reopen, regulations kept many of its entertainment attractions closed. Pyramid, which is a privately held company, has made large loans to expand and build entertainment extravaganzas in Destiny USA and another mall, Palisades Center in West Nyack, NY, and the bills are falling due.
In April, the Pyramid entities operating the two malls became delinquent on securitized debt called commercial mortgage-backed securities, or CMBS, according to real estate data provider Trepp LLC, eventually negotiating extensions and deferrals.