Bay Plaza Shopping Center is a shopping center on the south side of Co-op City, Bronx, New York City. In addition to various department stores and shops, such as Macy's, JCPenney, Staples, and Old Navy, it has a multiplex movie theater, several restaurants, a fitness club, and some office space. Constructed from 1987 to 1988 by Prestige Properties, the shopping center is located between Bartow and Baychester Avenues, just outside Sections 4 and 5 of Co-op City, on an open lot that was the site of the Freedomland U.S.A. amusement park between 1960 and 1964. The Bay Plaza Shopping Center is the largest shopping center in New York City. Since opening over 25 years ago, it has become extremely successful, the center claims to hold some of the highest performing stores on a per-square-foot basis for many national retailers. Expansion The Mall at Bay Plaza is expansion project of Bay Plaza Shopping Center. The center encloses a fashion mall with stores like JCPenney, Macy's and over 100 specialty stores and food court as well as a 1,800-car parking garage. It opened on August 14, 2014. The Mall at Bay Plaza is the first enclosed anchored fashion mall opened in the New York City area in almost 40 years after Queens Center opened in 1973. The developer hired the Los Angeles-based architectural firm Altoon & Porter Architects as the builder, and also hired Aurora Contractors — a New York-based firm — as Construction Manager. The mall, which is located at the Hutchinson River Parkway and I-95, has helped grow what is already the city’s largest shopping center (now ) to approximately upon its summer 2014 completion. A new , three-level Macy’s and the existing JCPenney anchors the development, which also has a 1,800-car parking garage. An H&M store, the first in the borough, opened in the mall. It created more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,700 permanent jobs. It costs . References External links Mall at Bay Plaza Shopping malls in New York City Shopping malls established in 1988 Commercial buildings in the Bronx Tourist attractions in the Bronx 1988 establishments in New York City Co-op City, Bronx