Mid-City Plaza in North Tonawanda is in the midst of a makeover.
Parts of the parking lot have been smoothed out. New stores are moving in. The buildings are getting a facelift.
The centrally located plaza on Payne Avenue is the city’s main shopping center. It’s home to Tops Markets, Dollar Tree, banks, cellphone providers, a gym and other local businesses.
The plaza’s new owners – a Houston-based group that purchased Mid-City Plaza in late 2023 for $20.75 million – are committed to moving new businesses, both national chains and local establishments, into the plaza’s empty storefronts, North Tonawanda Mayor Austin Tylec said. Most recently, Pizza Hut set up a takeout-only store in the plaza, as part of the chain’s return to the Western New York market, and a family-owned gaming store, Wicked Retro, opened next to Tops.
“It’d be great to see diversity of businesses in the plaza like it once was,” Tylec said.
The plaza’s owners are committed to investing millions to revitalize the shopping center. Earlier this month, the owners repaved parts of the pothole-strewn parking lot. Shoppers will notice the roadway leading from Payne Avenue back toward Tops and in the south part of the plaza in front of the Dollar Tree and Home Outlet is freshly paved and smooth.
Façade updates are also underway to give the currently shabby exteriors a new, uniformed look. The storefront exteriors on the Tops side of the plaza were redone last year, complementing the grocery store’s recent $2.5 million renovation. The owners are also planning renovations to some of the storefronts to make way for new businesses, Tylec said.
Improvements to Mid-City Plaza are part of the broader revitalization efforts taking place across North Tonawanda, which started with downtown and the waterfront, Tylec said.
Those efforts in the city center will continue once the city opens its new aquatic facility half a mile down the street at the site of the historic Memorial Pool. Tylec said construction of the new pool will begin before the end of this year, starting with some site demolition work.
“The new aquatic facility will bring a new type of energy that would only increase the value of their shops there, with tens of thousands more people coming into the park and the plaza to stop there to eat or buy goods and whatnot,” Tylec said. “So I think it’s a good sort of pairing with private and public enterprise, where we’re both moving the same direction.”
There are currently nine vacant storefronts in the plaza ranging from around 2,100 square feet to more than 9,000 square feet, according to Pyramid Brokerage Co., which is in charge of leasing the properties.
Tylec said the city is open to any retailers who want to move into the plaza. He said he hopes to see another national retailer, like Five Below, that will draw people to shop, and additional food options. Residents have expressed interest in a diner in that part of the city.
“That used to be part of the history of the plaza,” Tylec said. “A lot of people would love to see a breakfast place come back there. That would be a nice little add-on, sort of traditional touch.”
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Natalie Brophy
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