Pheasant Lane Mall

Pheasant Lane Mall

File:Pheasantlanesign.png The middle of three signs on Daniel Webster Highway; they have since been replaced.
Location	Nashua, New Hampshire, United States
Coordinates
Address	310 Daniel Webster Highway
Opening date	July 23, 1986
Management	Simon Property Group
Owner	Simon Property Group
No. of stores and services	140
No. of anchor tenants	5
Total retail floor area	870,000 square feet (81,000 m2)
No. of floors	2
Website	Pheasant Lane Mall

File:Pheasant lane mall state line.jpg

The state line runs through the parking lot, with JCPenney ending at the line (New Hampshire on the left, Mass. on the right).

Pheasant Lane Mall, occupying 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m²), is one of the largest shopping malls in the state of New Hampshire and the focal point of the commercial area in south Nashua.

Currently, the mall has more than 140 stores and kiosks, including five anchor stores: Sears, JCPenney, Macy's, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Target, plus 15 restaurants. As of 2012, it is owned and managed by Simon Property Group of Indianapolis. As of March 2015 the mall is Simon's 7th highest grossing center with $1,549 in annual sales per square foot.

Located just south of Exit 1 of the F.E. Everett Turnpike/U.S. Route 3 in Nashua and directly at northbound exit-only Exit 36 of US 3 in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, the property straddles the state line, although the entire mall is in New Hampshire.

Proximity to the border has long drawn shoppers from Massachusetts seeking to take advantage of New Hampshire's lack of a sales tax.

Approximately 1/3 of the parking lot and water runoff area is located in Tyngsborough. Shoppers who park in front of the Sears entrance closer to the Joe's American Bar and Grill walk across the state line in front of the building on the sidewalk to get to and from their cars. Some people who park in the southwestern portion of the JCPenney parking lot park their cars in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts at once. The JCPenney store has an unusual pentagonal shape at the state line to keep it entirely within New Hampshire by a few inches. If the store still had a square corner at its south end, the entire mall would be subject to Massachusetts sales taxes, even with only a few inches of the structure in Massachusetts.

History

The mall site was first re-zoned by the Nashua Board of Aldermen in December 1978 with the intention of clearing the way for primary owners Yankee Greyhound Inc. to build a major regional retail center on the site. By early 1984, the property was owned by State Properties of New England, previously a minority owner; ground work had been started and steel had been ordered. After more than two years of construction, Pheasant Lane Mall opened on July 23, 1986. The site was previously a drive-in movie theatre, and for several years following its opening, the former movie screen was used to display the double pheasant logo of the mall. The resulting mall development transformed South Nashua. It turned the southeastern portion of the city, roughly conforming to the city's 8th ward, from a sparsely populated outlier area into a swath of financial, retail and high-density residential development that stretches from over the state border in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, to Exit 3 of the Everett Turnpike, just south of Rivier College.

The rise of South Nashua spurred by Pheasant Lane Mall has elevated Nashua's municipal identity beyond gateway to New Hampshire, and helped create its current status as part of the Greater Boston economic area, and a hub for surrounding bedroom communities.

The nature of building on a border between a state with no sales tax (New Hampshire) and a state with one (Massachusetts) was shown in the changing plans and problems. Originally, the mall was to straddle the border, with retail on the no-sales-tax side. Restaurants were to be on the opposite end, since Massachusetts has a lower meals tax. However, the government of Massachusetts declared all customers, in all stores, would have to pay sales tax to Massachusetts. Therefore, the mall was redesigned so that all stores and restaurants were on the New Hampshire side of the border.

However, the site lines had been drawn up incorrectly, placing one corner of the JCPenney building in Massachusetts. Consequently, the corner of JCPenney was cut off and re-bricked into its current pentagonal shape.

File:PheasantLaneFood Court.png

Entrance to the Pheasant Lane Mall Food Court, which has been recently redone with a look not depicted here

Former anchors were Jordan Marsh and Lechmere. The Jordan Marsh location was occupied in spring 1996 by Macy's, which then moved in early 2006 into the space formerly taken by Filene's. The original Jordan Marsh location in the mall is now occupied by Dick's Sporting Goods, restaurants Burtons Grill and Red Robin, and Shops Visionworks and Massage Envy Spa. Lechmere closed in fall 1997 and was rebuilt into the Target store in fall 1999.

Future developments

In 2011, mall officials announced that Pheasant Lane would undergo a $10 million renovation. Plans for renovating had been discussed many times during the two prior years, but the recession delayed the project. Among the changes will be a redesign of the food court, new lighting and fixtures, ceramic tiles and carpeting, as well as an expansion to the number of retailers and restaurants. The renovations were finished by September 2012.

Discussions for an Amtrak station beside the mall are ongoing as of March 2011, after plans for extending Pan Am tracks from Boston to Concord fell through.

Anchors

• JCPenney (105,116 sq ft.)
• Macy's (150,000 sq ft.; formerly Filene's)
• Sears (165,444 sq ft.)
• Target (134,914 sq ft.); formerly Lechmere
• Dick's Sporting Goods (120,285 sq ft.); formerly Macy's and Jordan Marsh

See also

• Nashua Transit System

External links

• Pheasant Lane Mall website