The new owners of the sprawling former Seneca Mall site have filed development plans for the former West Seneca shopping mall complex, which could see a mix of big box, national retail anchors along with a series of smaller retail-based out parcels—all of which will be constructed during the next few years.
The 55-acre Orchard Park Road campus could exceed $100 million in total development, making it one of West Seneca’s largest, private-sector-backed projects in recent years.
According to plans filed late March 14th with the West Seneca Planning Board, Benchmark Streamline LLC - an affiliate of Amherst-based The Benchmark Group - will develop two main anchor buildings, one with 181,000-square-feet, roughly the size of a wholesale club outlet and the other approximately 120,000-square-feet, the rough size of a standard department store.
Plans indicate multiple tenants may go in both anchor buildings, although no retailers or tenants have been named in the planning board documents. The West Seneca Planning Board will begin its review of the Seneca Mall project during its April 10th meeting.
Two smaller anchor buildings, each around 15,000 square feet, are included in the initial site plan.
Also planned are seven smaller outparcel buildings that could potentially house such tenants as banks, restaurants, or retail outlets.
The former Seneca Mall, first developed in the late 1960s, sat virtually vacant by the early 1990s, and the property was demolished.
Several development plans were proposed, including the Shops at Seneca Mall plan by the Pyramid Cos., owners of the Walden Galleria, but none ever went beyond the initial proposal phase.
Benchmark Streamline, along with co-development partner NS Retail Holdings LLC, paid $22 million for the Seneca Mall property in late December 2024 with plans to move forward on development plans.
