Macy's leaving Ledgewood Mall

The echo in the largely unoccupied Ledgewood Mall is about to become louder as Macy's announced its anchor store there will close some time in the spring.

The 600,000-square-foot, single-level, enclosed mall, which has been plagued by increasing vacancies over the last decade, will be left with three anchor stores — Walmart, Marshall's and Ashley Furniture. In between, about seven tenants remain in the concourse, where at least 25 spaces are closed and empty.

The Sports Authority and Barnes & Noble Books also occupy standalone stores on the property.

Armstrong Realty, a New York-based full-service realty firm, has a Ledgewood Mall sales sheet listed on its website that says up to 110,000 square feet is available for lease, including five separate spaces ranging from 14,000 square feet to 39,000 square feet.

Armstrong Realty did not respond to a request for comment. The mall's 2014 tax bill from Roxbury was made out to the business entity AC I Ledgewood LLC & Baltoro Capital Management.

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Monday at midday, the mall's main concourse was nearly empty of customers, although Wonder Nails had customers receiving services. Delizia Pizza Kitchen, Bath and Bodyworks, Payless Shoe Store, the B&B Eye Group opticians and the Cutting Crew hair salon (which dates back to the 1970s there) were open for business as well.

Another longtime occupant, W. Kodak Jewelers, which opened as one of the first Ledgewood Mall tenants in 1974, moved next door to the Roxbury Mall in 2013. The owner in November said the company was doing well in its new home and had retained its loyal clientele.

Employees of the remaining Ledgewood mall stores declined comment Monday.

The previous owners of the mall, Acadia Realty Trust of White Plains, filed tax appeals in 2005, 2006 and 2007 that reduced the mall's property assessment from $32.3 million to $21.3 million, which reduced its tax bill to Roxbury from about $1.1 million to $743,370 in 2008. That tax bill rose to $859,242 in 2014, based on the same 2007 assessment.

Acadia sold the mall to AC I Ledgewood LLC & Baltoro Capital Management for $37 million on May 9, 2011, according to the company website and Roxbury tax records.

Macy's Inc., which also operates Bloomingdale's, announced last week it would close 14 of its 790 stores as the company restructures its central merchandising and marketing functions. Ledgewood is the only store in New Jersey being closed by the company, which also announced it would open seven new Macy's locations, including a 195,000-square-foot store in Miami, Fla.

The Ledgewood Macy's, at 73,000 square feet, is the smallest of the stores slated to be closed. The company lists the Ledgewood store as having 79 employees.

"Associates displaced by store closings may be offered positions in nearby stores where possible," the company wrote in a release last week announcing the openings and closings. "Eligible full-time and part-time associates who are laid off due to the store closing will be offered severance benefits."

Staff Writer William Westhoven: 983-428-6627; wwesthoven @dailyrecord.com.