H&M Second Retailer to Sign on to NYC’s First Outlet Mall

by Harry Sheff Mar 13, 2015

H&M will open a 26,000 sq. ft. store in the Empire Outlets mall on the Staten Island waterfront in fall 2016. The Swedish fast fashion retailer joins Nordstrom Rack as the only retail tenants announced publicly for the development so far.

A rendering of the Empire Outlets project from BFC's promo video
A rendering of the Empire Outlets project from BFC’s promo video

Empire Outlets, developed by BFC Partners, will be the first and only outlet mall in New York City proper. The mall, anchored by a 34,000 sq. ft. Nordstrom Rack store, will be in the St. George neighborhood of Staten Island, adjacent to the Staten Island Ferry terminal and right across the river from downtown Manhattan. BFC Partners says there will ultimately be 100 retail tenants and a hotel on the site.

The development’s showpiece though, will be a 625-foot Ferris wheel, larger than the 443-foot London Eye and the 550-foot High Roller in Las Vegas. The Staten Island wheel was to be the world’s largest but a bigger, 689-foot wheel is already planned for Dubai.

A public groundbreaking ceremony for the Empire Outlets and the Ferris wheel was postponed until April because of cold weather and snow.

Below is a promotional video released by BFC Partners about the development.