The Hudson Valley Mall, nestled on a picturesque hilltop in Kingston, N.Y., looks like a pleasant place to spend an afternoon—from the outside. Inside, it just feels empty.
Until recently, the 765,000-square-foot structure was best known for its infamous past as the scene of a Columbine-inspired shooting in 2005, when a local gunman fired off 60 rounds from an assault rifle. JC Penney and Co. shuttered its store in 2015, and Macy's Inc. closed its doors last year. Smaller retailers followed, and as of Feb. 2016, 33 percent of the mall space—not including anchor stores—sat vacant, according to Bloomberg data.
