New York mall owners are turning their parking lots into corona virus testing centers and donating space for blood drives.
Long Island-based Mason Asset Management, Namdar Realty Group, and CH Capital Group have transformed the parking lot of The Shops at Ithaca Mall (pictured top) into a Covid-19 drive-through test site, working in conjunction with Cayuga Medical Center and Tompkins County officials.
The Sampling Center will be situated at the front of the shopping center, which is located at 40 Catherwood Road in Ithaca, New York.
“We are thrilled to be offering Cayuga Medical Center a space to open a Covid-19 drive-through test site, which will provide our local community with much needed testing capabilities,” said Jelson Santos, Director of Operations at Namdar Realty Group, the branch of the owner-operator partnership which manages its properties.
“While our country continues to fight the spread of this unprecedented pandemic, we are committed to doing everything we can to best support the communities within which we operate.”
The mobile test site will be open from 10am-3pm, Monday-Friday. Patients are strongly encouraged to pre-register at www.cayugahealth.org prior to arriving at the site. The screening will include a swabbing of the throat and nose which will be sent to offsite designated testing centers for results.
In addition to the Sampling Center, The Shops at Ithaca Mall will be donating 18,000 s/f of vacant space to the American Red Cross for a blood drive on Thursday, March 26. The donation site will be housed in a former Planet Fitness location.
“New York has been especially hard-hit by the Covid-19 crisis, and we are fortunate to be able to find ways to give back to our local community during these challenging times,” said Gina Speno, General Manager and Leasing, The Shops at Ithaca Mall.
“It is our hope that by utilizing our vacant space for these life-saving initiatives, we will help to curb the spread of the virus in Ithaca and the surrounding area.”
