Watch wrecking crew take down the Great Northern Mall (video and photos)

Clay, N.Y. – A wrecking crew began razing the Great Northern Mall on Wednesday, spelling the end for a center that opened 38 years ago during the heyday of shopping malls.

Machines from demolition contractor Sessler Wrecking started taking big bites out of the rear portion of the building, near the mall’s food court.

Within a couple of hours, the machines had created a huge hole in the mall, ripping down portions of its roof and building up large piles of steel and other metals in the parking lot for recycling.

Guy Hart Jr., one of the property’s principal owners, said the demolition will take up to 90 days to complete.

The demolition is the first step in a redevelopment that Hart and his business partner, Seamus Lyman, are planning for the 200-acre mall site at the northeast corner of Route 31 and Interstate 481.

Hart and Lyman bought the mall in 2023 for $9 million. Soon after, they announced plans to raze the mall and build a large residential, retail and commercial community in its place.

The plan includes as many as 1,700 apartments and condos, six hotels, 1.4 million square feet of retail, office and entertainment, and a new medical hub.

No date has been set for the start of the redevelopment. Hart said he is holding discussions with potential development partners.

Great Northern opened in 1988, becoming one of 12 shopping malls in Onondaga County. The Carousel Center, now known as Destiny USA, opened in Syracuse two years later, becoming the 13th in the county.

Since then, all but Destiny USA have closed, victims of online retail competition and the demise of their biggest anchors, department stores.

Great Northern closed its doors in 2022 following years of high vacancy rates.

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