A FACE-LIFT AT 40-PLUS DID MORE THAN JUST freshen up Colonie Center Mall. It transformed it, creating a new upscale shopping location for Albany, N.Y.

The two-phase process consisted of an interior renovation to attract new fa hion retailers followed by the addition of a restaurant, lifestyle tenants and entertainment complex that opened up the mall's fortress-like walls to its community.

"This project couldn't have been this successful without our client's ability to creatively step up to the challenge of redefining the mall," said Richard Gelber, a principal of Philadelphia's spg3. "It's an ambitious makeover and it sparked the interest of a set of progressively fashion-forward tenants."

The 1.2 million-square-foot mall had been expanded a few times since its opening, but still lacked fashion and retail interest.
The center was successful, but new owner Feldman Mall Properties, Great Neck, N.Y., wanted the renovation to create a location appropriate for upscale tenants. Chairman Lawrence H. Feldman was particularly enamored with the regional architecture of the Adirondacks, and mentioned that fact as a potential design consideration to spg3, who served as architects for the project.
"Colonie was about as vanilla as you can get," said Mark Cahill, also a principal at spg3. "It had what I call good bones ... but it was poorly illuminated, and there was nothing to make you slow down to browse the shops."

"The developer wanted the material finishes to be first class to invoke elegance," Cahill said. "We added to that an arts-andcrafts feel."

The team of spg3 chose to spend the $9 million renovation budget where it would have the greatest effect: on the common areas, including installing a working two-story fireplace. It is actually three separate fireplaces, two on opposite sides of the ground level plus one on the second floor. Each is the focus of a new soft seating area, bringing elegance to the space.

The older flooring was replaced with Italian marble and ceramic tile, and every light fixture in the center was replaced, increasing the nighttime illumination. Some 20, six-foot-high pendant lights in a bronze and alabaster fixture were hung in the skylights, continuing the elegant, yet natural color palette.

"We brought in an autumnal color palette, from the carpet to the tile to the furniture, consisting of sepias, gold and ochre with dark cherry woods, with dark gray accents," said Cahill.

The interior renovation was completed in July 2006 and, shortly afterward, work on the exterior lifestyle portion began to create a new "front door" for the center. That front door also leads moviegoers inside, up through the expanded food court to the cinema built on top of the center.

The project was completed in 2007, and the greatest results have been the increased sales and leasing appeal to higher-end tenants. More than 40 years after its grand opening, Colonie Center has again become the primary fashion center for the greater Albany market, Gelber says.

"One of the absolutely critical issues for regional mall redesign today is turning the center inside out, so the exterior of the center extends welcoming arms to the community," Gelber said. "The surrounding communities have embraced this center as their own. Design aside, Colonie's development, leasing, and community success has been an incredible thing."