Tangers

TANGER MALL DEER PARK

Beyond the black top and the Stop & Shop, Italian villas and European seaside towns are the inspiration for a reality starkly different from this particular stretch of Commack Road in Deer Park.

Like a Hollywood backlot, the new Tanger Outlets at The Arches is taking shape as a retail village unto itself, with a network of walkways on 83 acres connecting a series of smaller piazzas and buildings, each accented with façades of multicolored pastel patterns, terra-cotta tile roofs, columns and corner stones. The idea behind the project - the first regional mall of its size to be built in three decades - is to merge upscale sensibilities with outlet center discounts in a tourist shopping destination that also works as a local community hub.

With a price tag of about $440 million, the 800,000-square-foot outdoor mall is an ambitious project of designer outlet stores poised to open its doors on Thursday. Even as the country heads into a worsening economy, the project's developers said that they are opening at an opportune moment.So far, we know Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, the Children’s Place, Nike, Adidas and Disney will have storefronts when The Arches, Tanger’s new factory outlet, shopping and entertainment center opens. Today, Neiman Marcus came on board. The retailer said it would open a 32,000 square feet [|Last Call Clearance Center] at the Deer Park complex. From [|the statement]: The Neiman Marcus Last Call store, the first and only on Long Island, will offer fashion and hard goods at outlet savings. Other tenants joining The Arches include Anne Klein, Banana Republic, BCBG, Christmas Tree Shops, Disney, Eddie Bauer, Reebok, New York Sports Club and many more. Regal Cinemas has also leased 71,000 square feet for a 16-screen cineplex, one of the few state of the art cineplexes on Long Island.