Prior to the construction of the mall, the land was occupied by the Staten Island Airport, which opened in 1941. The site was sold in 1955 with a shopping and amusement center, known as the Staten Island Center, envisaged. In 1964 it was announced that Macy's and Abraham & Straus would open stores across from E. J. Korvette. Construction of the mall did not commence until 1970 and opened in 1973 with Macy's and Sears. The A&S store was not built on the property as announced years earlier. The shopping center was developed by Feist and Feist Realty Corp. and sold to the Rouse Company in 1980. Rouse remodeled the mall by removing the small shops in the center court known as the "Honeycomb", added additional escalators to the six that were working at the time the mall opened, plus additional trees and several new fountains throughout the mall. The mall was renovated and expanded in 1993 when the JCPenney wing was completed. JCPenney relocated to the mall from its long time occupancy at the Forest Avenue Shoppers Town. It was originally a two-story mall shaped like a letter "T", with a large outdoor plaza on the Richmond Avenue side gross leasable area of and a tenant GLA of 622,000 ft². In 2008, following the US economic meltdown, several stores, including some open for many years, closed down and discount or non-national retailers took their places. Other spaces sat vacant, with their windows being used to display other stores' merchandise. However, by mid-2010, higher-end shops such as Michael Kors, Pandora and Armani Exchange opened for business, and by 2011, numerous new brands were relocating or updating their looks while new tenants continued to revive the mall's image. The mall has been expanded by 242,000 square feet beginning in 2016 continued into 2019 with an updated modern storefront with new restaurants and retailers like Zara and Ulta Beauty. Also added was a new parking garage and Dave & Buster's. The food court had been moved from its former area into the newly expanded area in the mall, now called the "Food District". Several new restaurants including a Chick-fil-A opened in the food district. Other business added to the mall are Barnes & Noble, Lidl and AMC Theatres. On March 15, 2017, Primark opened on the second floor of the Sears store, while The Container Store occupied the former Sears auto center. On July 14, 2019, it was announced that Sears would be shutting down at the mall in mid-September 2019 after 46 years. The store closed on September 15, 2019.
Transportation
Several local, Select Bus Service and express New York City Transit Authority buses stop and either travel through or on the perimeter of the mall's campus. They include the local buses/limited counterparts, the buses with no corresponding limited buses, the Select Bus Service route, and the express buses.
