SHARE

Modell's Sets Opening Date For Store At Former Mount Kisco Borders Site

MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. -- Modell's Sporting Goods is scheduled to open its new store in downtown Mount Kisco on Thursday, Aug. 25.

Construction is under way for a Modell's Sporting Goods store at the former Borders site in downtown Mount Kisco. Signage is pictured facing East Main Street.

Construction is under way for a Modell's Sporting Goods store at the former Borders site in downtown Mount Kisco. Signage is pictured facing East Main Street.

Photo Credit: Tom Auchterlonie
Construction is under way for a Modell's Sporting Goods store at the former Borders site in downtown Mount Kisco. Signage is pictured facing East Main Street.

Construction is under way for a Modell's Sporting Goods store at the former Borders site in downtown Mount Kisco. Signage is pictured facing East Main Street.

Photo Credit: Tom Auchterlonie
Construction is under way for a Modell's Sporting Goods store at the former Borders site in downtown Mount Kisco. Signage is pictured facing the structure's adjacent parking lot.

Construction is under way for a Modell's Sporting Goods store at the former Borders site in downtown Mount Kisco. Signage is pictured facing the structure's adjacent parking lot.

Photo Credit: Tom Auchterlonie
Construction is under way for a Modell's Sporting Goods store at the former Borders site in downtown Mount Kisco. The building is pictured at is section facing a parking lot.

Construction is under way for a Modell's Sporting Goods store at the former Borders site in downtown Mount Kisco. The building is pictured at is section facing a parking lot.

Photo Credit: Tom Auchterlonie
While Modell's plans on opening a store in the northern section of the former Borders Books and Music site in Mount Kisco, the structure's southern end remains vacant. Pictured is a glimpse, through a window, of the gutted southern-side second floor.

While Modell's plans on opening a store in the northern section of the former Borders Books and Music site in Mount Kisco, the structure's southern end remains vacant. Pictured is a glimpse, through a window, of the gutted southern-side second floor.

Photo Credit: Tom Auchterlonie

The date was released in an announcement posted to the company's website. A new location in Brooklyn is also slated to open on the same date.

The opening will position Modell's, which is a family owned chain, to open in time for the back-to-school shopping season.

Modell's will open at 162 E. Main Street., which is the former home of Borders Books and Music. Unlike Borders, which occupied the entire building, Modell's will only take up the northern section of the structure; the southern end remains vacant for now.

Modell's will occupy both floors of the 2-story building. Signage has already been installed at the lower level, which faces a parking lot, and on the upper level, which faces East Main Street. Inventory is already being stocked inside.

The store, which was once a hub of activity in the downtown, has been vacant since Borders went out of business nearly five years ago. 

The prolonged vacancy occurred in part due to a convoluted journey through litigation and foreclosure.

The building's longtime owner, Mt. Kisco Associates, LP, was sued in 2013 over not continuing payment of a $6.3 million mortgage. In 2014, Mt. Kisco Associates settled with the lawsuit's plaintiff, mortgage holder GCCFC 2007-GG11 Kisco Retail, LLC, and allowed for the building to go into foreclosure.

The mortgage holder acquired the property in an August 2014 foreclosure auction with a $6.5 million credit bid, a process whereby it applied the outstanding debt as a de facto means of currency. 

The mortgage holder subsequently sold the property to a group nearly a year later for $6.25 million. The purchasers include the Modell family, which has a 50-percent stake in the property; real-estate businessman Stephen Lerner, who has a 25-percent stake; and Lerner's cousin, who also has a 25-percent stake. 

The current ownership consortium holds the property without a mortgage.

Modell's received approval for its store last fall from the Mount Kisco Planning Board, which paved the way for a subdivision to accommodate two tenants. An amendment was granted earlier this year, which changed the subdivision structure in a way that will allow for three tenants.

A rental listing from Lerner's company, Lerner Properties, shows that Modell's is taking up 12,137 square feet; the building is more than 20,000 overall. The balance, which is 8,881 square feet, is available for one to two additional tenants. If two tenants are selected, their spaces would be divided in portions of 6,069 and 2,812 square feet.

to follow Daily Voice Armonk and receive free news updates.

SCROLL TO NEXT ARTICLE