Big plans are afoot at one of the Hudson Valley’s busiest tourist destinations.
The owners of Woodbury Common Premium Outlets filed papers in August to initiate a proposed upgrade that would include a three-level parking garage, 60,000 square feet of additional retail space, new store facades and other work to improve traffic flow and spruce up an international shopping mecca that opened more than 25 years ago.
Construction is expected to take about three years to complete. The plans provide no cost estimate, but Woodbury Mayor Michael Queenan said Thursday that Woodbury Common representatives put the price at around $100 million months ago when they met with him, fire officials and the building inspector to discuss the proposal.
It would be the first major work at the 220-store mall since its last expansion was approved in 1997, and it could bring more of both the blessings and burdens of Woodbury Common: more jobs, more property taxes for Monroe-Woodbury schools and Woodbury, more sales tax income for Orange County and its municipalities, but also more demands for police service and gridlock on holidays and weekends.