Monstrous NY shopping mall that aimed to spark troubled downtown devolves into bane of Dem-run city

It’s a New Roc pity.The 1.2 million-square-foot New Roc City shopping center was supposed to be the cornerstone of a revitalization of the long-neglected downtown in New Rochelle when it opened to great fanfare in 1999.Nearly three decades later, the mall is an eyesore in disrepair, with few tenants, fewer customers and occasional roving bands of rowdy young toughs that scare away shoppers and families.“It just sucks,” one New Roc retailer told The Post.

“It was a really bad idea and it didn’t work.They were trying to make it cool, but it just sucks.

It’s a pain in the ass.“New Roc City just sucks,” he reiterated.“It’s obviously been a big flop.”The shopping center at 33 LeCount Place cost nearly $200 million to build, once boasting the county’s first IMax movie theater, fitness and education businesses, and dining and recreation, including a thrill-ride called the Space Shot that drew families and youngsters.Yet, over the years the mall’s design and location spelled doom.“New Roc City was supposed to be the ultimate hangout spot for friends, couples and single people,” said DC Andino, a county resident who once took classes at a Monroe College campus nearby.

“But now it’s dead.I grew up coming here and it used to be so lively.

Now, it’s all dim and dead.”Community leaders said several factors played a role in the mall’s decline, including an enclosed design, changes in entertainment and shopping trends, and a shift in New Rochelle’s downtown redevelopment strategy, which focused on luring New York City commuters who don’t frequent local haunts.“It’s like Oz, and Oz isn’t real,” Jim Killoran, a longtime New Rochelle activist and executive director of the Fuller Center for Housing of Greater New York City, said of the mall.“And who’s the wizard?“It’s a mall next to a main street, and they call themselves separate,” Killoran said.

“There’s New Roc City and then there’s the rest of us.You don’t...