Smith Haven Mall's revamp almost done as LongHorn Steakhouse, other new tenants planned

A multimillion-dollar renovation at Smith Haven Mall that puts more focus on outdoor gatherings and leisure — a growing trend at retail properties — will be finished by early next month.

Changes at the Lake Grove property also will include new tenants, such as LongHorn Steakhouse and Coach.

The landlord, Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group Inc., started a project in 2025 to spruce up the mall by turning a courtyard into an outdoor plaza; upgrading flooring, entryways and the food court’s appearance; and adding new stores, restaurants, paint, signs and fixtures to the overall property.

“This ongoing redevelopment and renovation project is entirely focused on enhancing the property, modernizing our spaces, and bringing in exciting new retail and dining additions,” Mathew Boals, the mall’s general manager, said in an email.

New tenants currently at the mall include Boxcar Burgers, which opened in June; Ugly Dumpling restaurant, which opened Sept. 4; and clothing retailer Zara, Sept. 17.

Incoming tenants Abercrombie & Fitch, Coach, toy store Pop Mart and men’s clothing store Jack & Jones will be opening in the mall in the fourth quarter of this year, Boals said. 

Clothing, toy and home goods retailer Miniso and clothing store Goat USA will open in the mall in early fall, he said.

A LongHorn Steakhouse is planned for a freestanding building at the mall that a Bahama Breeze restaurant vacated in May 2025.

The Town of Smithtown’s planning department is considering a site plan addendum application to renovate Bahama Breeze’s former 7,154-square-foot building and remove the front patio for the LongHorn, Jeffrey Kannengieser, a planner for the town, said in an email.

The applicant is RARE Hospitality International Inc., a franchisee for LongHorn.

There is one LongHorn restaurant on Long Island, a Farmingdale eatery that opened in 2018.

The LongHorn brand is owned by Darden Restaurants Inc., whose nine brands include Olive Garden, Ruth's Chris Steak House and The Capital Grille. One of the three Ruth’s Chris Steak House locations on Long Island is at Smith Haven Mall.

Orlando, Florida-based Darden did not respond to requests for comment.

Focus on outdoor plaza

Built in 1969, the 1.2 million-square-foot Smith Haven Mall straddles Lake Grove and Smithtown. Located at 313 Smith Haven Mall, near the intersection of Middle Country and New Moriches roads, the mall has more than 130 stores. Its anchor tenants include Primark, Macy’s, H&M and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Smith Haven Mall introduced an open-air area called the Lifestyle Courtyard in 2006-2007.

Simon, which also owns Roosevelt Field in Uniondale and Walt Whitman Shops in Huntington Station, is turning that courtyard into an outdoor plaza that will be a park-like setting with lounge furniture, game areas and cabana-style seating with café tables and umbrellas, the company said.

The outdoor plaza is roughly the size of the playing surface of a football field, Boals said.

Work on the mall’s common areas, including the outdoor plaza and the upgrades to the food court, such as new seating, paint, light fixtures and flooring, will be finished by early October, Boals said.

Simon said the renovation is a multimillion-dollar project but declined to disclose the specific cost.

Shopping malls in general are performing well these days, particularly the A-rated properties like Smith Haven Mall and its sister mall, Roosevelt Field, after hundreds of weaker malls closed amid growing ecommerce competition.

There are about 1,100 enclosed shopping malls in America, including seven active malls on Long Island, according to CoStar, an Arlington, Virginia-based provider of commercial real estate information. That is down 27% from the approximately 1,500 enclosed malls that existed about 25 years ago.

Landlords are increasingly transforming sections or the entirety of their mall properties into open-air shopping centers, in response to consumers’ changing shopping habits.

Many landlords also are diversifying the tenant lineups — including the addition of medical offices, supermarkets and sit-down restaurants — that lean more upscale, retail experts said.

In July 2023, an outpatient care facility, Stony Brook Advanced Specialty Care at Lake Grove, opened in a former Sears space in Smith Haven Mall.

The trend of opening up enclosed malls is playing out across Long Island, from Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream; to the former Broadway Commons in Hicksville; to the former Sun Vet Mall in Holbrook.

Both Green Acres and the former Broadway Commons, which was renamed The Shops on Broadway in 2024, are being partially revamped into open-air centers. A ShopRite supermarket will open at Green Acres Mall in 2027 and a BJ’s Wholesale Club is planned for The Shops on Broadway.

The former Sun Vet Mall was completely transformed from an enclosed, struggling property to an open-air shopping center, renamed The Shops at SunVet in 2023, in a $96 million project that was mostly completed last year. A Whole Foods Market opened at the shopping center in March.