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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

Connecticut Post Mall

Connecticut Post Mall (formerly known as Westfield Connecticut Post) is a shopping mall, located on the Boston Post Road (Route 1) in Milford, Connecticut. It is currently the largest mall in the state of Connecticut and is partially owned and operated by Centennial Properties. The mall features the traditional retailers Macy's, Boscov's, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Target.

History

The original, open-air mall was built by Sol Atlas and opened in 1960, anchored by a W. & J. Sloane furniture store and a Stop & Shop supermarket at opposite ends. In 1962, the sixth branch of the Alexander's department store chain opened. Following an early fire at the west end of the mall, a Caldor discount store was built as the new anchor.

In 1981, the mall was enclosed. The mall underwent a renovation in 1990, which added the Skyview Cafe food court, and lost anchor Alexander's. In August 1991, JCPenney opened in the former Alexander's space. G. Fox was added in 1991 and was rebranded as Filene's in 1993. Caldor closed in May 1999 and was later demolished. Stop & Shop relocated to a freestanding store sometime in the late 1990s and was demolished for Sears, which opened in April 2000.

The Mall strongly opposed the proposed rival New Haven Galleria mall at Long Wharf, filing over 15 lawsuits.

A $118 million 480,000-square-foot (45,000 m) expansion project took place in 2005–06, adding:

  • an additional level of parking
  • a 75,000-square-foot (7,000 m) third floor to Filene's which was later rebranded as Macy's in 2006.
  • a large extension to the building with a 55,000-square-foot (5,100 m) movie theater (Connecticut Post 14, replacing the Milford Fourplex, previously located in an adjacent building. Was Cinema De Lux, later a Rave Cinemas, now a Cinemark), a new food court, and two more anchors, Dick's Sporting Goods and Target on the site of the former Caldor.

In December 2015, Westfield sold Connecticut Post in a $1.1 billion deal involving five malls.

In 2017, it was announced Boscov's would be replacing JCPenney, which would shutter as part of a strategy implemented to modernize their brick-and-mortar format.

In October 2018, Sears announced that they would close their location at the mall as part of an ongoing decision to eliminate its brick-and-mortar format. In 2020, the previous Sears outpost was to be razed for a new mixed-used development project called The Post. However, these plans are being reevaluated after Milford P&Z Commission declined the proposed project to be built.

In November 2018, Dave & Buster's joined the mall.

In May 2019, it was announced that a Muse Paintbar would open.

A Guacamole's Mexican restaurant opened in August 2019.

In May 2021, it was announced that a Cast Iron restaurant would open.

P.F. Chang's announced in August 2022 that it would open in 2023.

In October 2023, plans were approved to demolish the former Sears and replace the space with housing. The project would include three phases, with phase one to be completed by 2026, phase two to be completed by 2028, and phase three to be completed by 2033.