Residential and retail developers, especially those that build near the water, are using ice rinks to bring in shoppers.
"And we don't want to just flip this land over to another retail developer."
In addition to the developers of office and academic projects, retail developers are paying increasing attention to downtown Brooklyn.
Kalikow Development of Westbury, a residential and retail developer, has also entered the market.
For retail developers and tenants, the economics of airport retailing are extremely attractive.
Forest City is now New York's most active retail developer outside Manhattan.
It is also, it seems, a place where only the retail developers are ready to spend money.
This time, however, construction will not begin until there are commitments from retail developers.
The realization of that enormous purchasing power making its way to Riverhead has now attracted a second major retail developer to Route 58.
But some foreign retail developers are venturing into second- or even third-tier cities - populous places where the modern shopping center is often a novelty.