For generations of Jamaica, Queens residents, the Jamaica Colosseum Mall wasn\u2019t just where you shopped \u2014 it was where you grew up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like legendary. This is where we all used to hang around. It\u2019s just sad to see it go,\u201d said Ketlyne, a Jamaica resident who did not give her last name.<\/p>\n
After more than four decades as a neighborhood fixture, the Jamaica Colosseum Mall closed for good Saturday. The shopping center, which opened in 1984, served as a gathering place for families, entrepreneurs and a hub of hip-hop culture long before Jamaica\u2019s skyline began to change.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
The Jamaica Colosseum Mall, which opened in 1984, officially closed Saturday
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Residents and shop owners say the mall was a cornerstone of community life in Jamaica, Queens
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The property\u2019s closure follows approval of the Jamaica Neighborhood Plan, which allows for major redevelopment in the area
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Community members plan a block party on Feb. 21 to mark the mall\u2019s legacy and send it off<\/p>\n
For longtime shoppers, the closure feels personal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a legacy over there. I\u2019ve been shopping with everybody \u2014 all the owners, they all work together, they\u2019re family. It\u2019s like losing a loved one. I\u2019m hurt,\u201d said Karen, another local resident who declined to give her last name.<\/p>\n
Inside the mall, small business owners spent their final days packing up stores they had built over decades. Mike Nurse, whose family runs Sports in Effect, said the shop has been operating there since 1990.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were told we have to leave by the end of the month,\u201d Nurse said.<\/p>\n
Walking away has not been easy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a lot of struggle from the start. We built something, and it\u2019s very hard to walk away from something you built,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Beyond retail, the mall became a cultural landmark. Hip-hop artists including LL Cool J and Wu-Tang Clan filmed music videos there, cementing the Colosseum\u2019s place in New York City music history.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were involved in the mixtapes, the urban gear that goes with the music,\u201d Nurse said.<\/p>\n
Even younger residents say the loss leaves a void.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like our community is gone because this is basically a big part of our community, and it just means a lot to everybody,\u201d said Fanta, who also did not share her last name.<\/p>\n
The property was listed for sale in 2015. Its closure comes after the City Council approved the Jamaica Neighborhood Plan, a rezoning effort aimed at bringing new development to the area, including thousands of apartments and new retail space.<\/p>\n
Across the street, deli owner Sharif El Samet worries about what comes next as the building sits vacant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Colosseum is bringing people from everywhere to shop, but now they shut it \u2014 it\u2019s gonna be slow around here,\u201d El Samet said.<\/p>\n
While some businesses have plans to reopen elsewhere, shop owners say the relationships they built inside the mall will be hardest to replace.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want them to know it\u2019s not the end of everything \u2014 it\u2019s a new beginning,\u201d Nurse said.<\/p>\n
The community plans to give the Jamaica Colosseum Mall a proper farewell with a block party scheduled for Feb. 21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For generations of Jamaica, Queens residents, the Jamaica Colosseum Mall wasn\u2019t just where you shopped \u2014 it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[3478,25,288,9,24,12,63,1174,122,124,123,27,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-119827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-app-local-business","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-olivia-leach","16":"tag-queens","17":"tag-queens-headlines","18":"tag-queens-news","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}