The New Areas Of “Destiny USA”
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Jul 20, 2012
A couple of days ago I decided to take my goofy self to Carousel Mall to see the new areas of what will be called Destiny USA come August. The previous time I’d been there I’d only seen one little corridor and didn’t think much of it. But it’s drastically changed now.
The first thing I realized is that once it’s totally done that’s going to be some kind of walk! I came in off Hiawatha Boulevard because I knew that’s where the new entrance is, and I also hadn’t seen the new front of the mall. Not bad, but it just seems wasted because you see this front of the mall and yet there’s no entrance there. That’s such a strange way of presenting a mall, and yet I saw the same thing in White Plains years ago.
Where I came in there were some stores already open but overall there’s a lot of construction still going on, though the time of day I was there, as you’ll see in some of the images, those folks had gone home for the day. There’s a lot more opened up, such that the only areas still off limits are the upper two floors, and they’ll be opening those up in a couple more weeks. Truthfully I can’t wait to see what they’re doing to the third floor since the only thing that’s been up there for so long are the movie theaters.
As I walked around I was amazed both by what’s coming and what’s already there. The Melting Pot restaurant, where I know I have to get to one of these days, had a large crowd of people waiting to get in, and I saw where there will be a few other restaurants on their way. There’s a lot more clothing restaurants coming as well. And, did my eyes deceive me, or will there be a new bowling alley coming, in the mall?
In the corridor between the new section and the original mall they’ve added what resemble kiosk types of stores with this really cool looking floor, and I think they might end up doing the same thing on the second level, although right now it’s just open space. It’s amazing how they totally gutted and changed up the space that used to be Border’s book store.
Frankly I think it looks spectacular and will look better once it’s completed. If there’s a minor downside it’s that the parking space outside the new entrance is minimal, which tells me they really don’t want a lot of people coming into the mall that way, and that could spell disaster for some of the stores that are located there.
Also, I’m thinking that the sign for the Melting Pot needs to move to the other side because if I hadn’t been exploring I wouldn’t have known it was back there, even if everyone else seemed to know it. However, it’s new, and once it’s not quite the novelty anymore I think they’d benefit from better placement.
Oh yeah, as you’ll notice in the picture of the new front of the mall there’s a skybridge of some sort, which looks like it’ll lead to what will probably end up being lots of parking space on the other side of Hiawatha Boulevard, in the area near where the hotel that’s not being built was supposed to go. It looks like it goes out on the second level, which is why it will be interesting to see what else they do in that space.
I hope you enjoy the few pictures I’ve put up here; this sucker’s going to be huge!
What struck me was how close the expansion wing is to the main street. Normally, you have lots of green space or parking area in front of a big mall entrance.
Pyramid must have known this could be a possibility in case the Destiny USA expansion fell through as it did.
I haven’t seen the new addition. One of these days.
Steve, Sears was always right there on the street; that was a strange thing the first time I saw it as well. It all makes you wonder why planned these things and what they were thinking when they did it.