New World Shopping Center in November 2019 (Google Maps)
Aug. 10, 2020 By Allie Griffin
The City Department of Buildings (DOB) lifted a vacate order it placed on a popular shopping mall in Flushing that violated state-mandated COVID-19 regulations last week.
The department placed a vacate order on the New World Shopping Center, located at 136-20 Roosevelt Ave., after inspectors found people throughout the inside of the mall on Tuesday.
Indoor shopping malls in New York City are not permitted to be open due to the pandemic.
Despite the state mandate, common areas of the New World Mall were found to be open to the public. A DOB inspector found “continuous foot traffic throughout common areas” of the New World Shopping Center on Tuesday, according to a complaint.
Only businesses inside a mall that have their own exterior entry and exit way from the street level — separate from the mall building entrance — are allowed to be open.
The owners of the New World Mall submitted a proposal to the DOB on how they could safely reopen areas of the mall that are permitted under the state order.
The department approved the mall’s COVID-10 safety plan proposal Thursday afternoon and amended the vacate order, so that the parts of the mall which are allowed to be open can reopen in compliance with the state order.
The mall features JMART, an Asian supermarket, on the first and second levels; a dim sum restaurant and large banquet hall on the third floor as well as 108 retail shops, a food court, karaoke lounge and underground parking garage.
