Palisades Center is a shopping mall in West Nyack, New York, which as of December 2022, was the twelfth-largest in the United States by gross leasable space.

It is also located near the Thruway's intersection of the Palisades Interstate Parkway, and is only a few miles west of the Tappan Zee Bridge, which provides access from points east of the Hudson River.

[10] The 875,000-square-foot (81,300 m2) mall[11] was proposed in 1985 with a goal of luring upscale retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor, and also a promise to keep sales tax dollars from slipping across state lines into New Jersey.

Local residents, recalling how the Nanuet Mall nearly drew the life out of Rockland County's traditional shopping villages about 20 years earlier,[10] opposed the mall, predicting that it would bring crime,[11] increased traffic, air pollution, and an economic downturn to the area's downtowns,[2][12] and that the site was not properly tested for toxins.

The grounds have been maintained since 1940 by the Mount Moor Cemetery Association, Inc.[14]The construction of the mall faced a number of environmental obstacles before it began.

From its inception, rumors circulated that the mall's underground parking lot was sinking because it was built on unstable swampland, and that it would collapse under its own weight.

[23] On November 5, 2002, voters in Clarkstown voted on a referendum in which the mall requested approval for it to lease 100,000 square feet (9,300 square meters) of theretofore unoccupied space, in keeping with a 1997 covenant in which Pyramid Companies agreed any additional leasing would be decided by a town referendum as part of a deal that let the mall take over three town streets.

Opponents argued that Pyramid Companies had previously stated that this space had no practical use when they had built beyond the original 1.8 million square feet (170,000 square meters) they were allowed, but Pyramid insisted that they did not wish to expand beyond the limits of the mall, but rather to lease space already in the building, which would be occupied by Kids City, an educational and recreational center for children ages 3 to 12.

Valenti said that the $23-million effort to fix area roads and create a special exit for the mall on the Thruway prevented the predicted traffic congestion.

[2] New York Times writer Joe Queenan criticized the mall's Brutalist exterior as lacking design and theme and characterized its rectangular layout as "a series of interlocking coffins."

Queenan had kinder things to say about the mall's vast interior, likening its sprawling floors to a retail version of Centre Georges Pompidou, analogizing its amalgamated structure to the "Gotham skyline," and lauding the bowling alley, ice rink, and food court Ferris wheel for giving people an opportunity to play "adult hooky.

[26] On May 3, 2013, Pyramid officials announced that Palisades Center would undergo a multimillion-dollar remodeling from May to December that year in order to give a more upscale appearance to the mall, which had begun to show signs of wear and tear.

The four-story court at the center of the mall received glass handrails and architectural lighting elements, and the "ThEATery" area on Level 4 got new tile floors and chandelier fixtures.

[28] The late 2010s saw several traditional chain anchors update their brick-and-mortar fleets, due to competition by digital retailers in recent years.

[30] In September 2019, it was reported that the Lord & Taylor store at Palisades Center would be closing, with Clarkstown Councilman Donald Franchino explaining that the mall needed to diversify in its pursuit of moving toward a greater a mixture of retail and entertainment.

By July 2020, Pyramid Companies missed mortgage payments since the prior April, and had risked defaulting on its $388.5 million CMBS loan, but reached an agreement with its lenders to avoid foreclosure.

[27] In March 2021, the Rockland County Business Journal reported that the mall, which was in a state of transition exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, would likely not replace the former Lord & Taylor and JC Penney with other department stores or retail.