New York state will delay plans to reopen shopping malls, gyms and movie theaters that were shuttered in March because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.
The establishments were scheduled to resume operation during the fourth part of the state’s phased reopening, which will begin in some upstate regions on Friday. The Democratic governor said at a press conference that their reopenings were postponed while the State Department of Health reviews more data about indoor viral transmission.
But business owners said they were surprised and disheartened by the news, which was first communicated late Tuesday in scheduled teleconferences between state and local government officials.
Mr. Cuomo didn’t say when the review would be completed, and said the coronavirus pandemic is not a “static situation.” While New York has suffered far more Covid-19 deaths than any other state, infections and hospitalizations have fallen sharply, while they are rising in the South.
“We’re looking at what happened in other states,” he said. “There’s some reports that malls, bars, certain social clubs with air conditioning—that air conditioning may not be cleansing the air of the virus, just recirculating the air with the virus.”
Months ago, the state outlined state plans to reopen the economy in four two-week-long phases. Upstate regions—including rural areas, the Adirondack Park and the cities of Syracuse and Rochester—are set to reach phase four on Friday. New York City, which saw the most infections and deaths in the state, won’t be eligible for this phase until July 20. It is currently in phase two.
The Destiny USA Mall in Syracuse, N.Y., last year. Its management criticized the delay in its reopening on Wednesday.
Photo: Libby March for The Wall Street JournalExecutives at Pyramid Management Group—whose portfolio includes Destiny USA in Syracuse, the state’s largest mall—said they have prepared for weeks to reopen. People can now shop in retail stores with exterior entrances—something not available to many mall tenants—anywhere in the state.
“Our tenants need to restart their businesses and provide jobs to our workers immediately. Our tenants, employees and customers are being treated unfairly, and there is no logical reason to force them to remain closed,” said Pyramid Chief Executive Stephen Congel.
He said there were 20,000 people who worked at the company’s New York malls, which also include Crossgates Mall outside Albany, the Walden Galleria near Buffalo and the Palisades Center in Rockland County.
Wilmorite, a commercial real estate company that operates three enclosed shopping centers in suburbs of Rochester, said in a statement that the existing rules only allowed 10% of stores at their locations to operate. The company said in a statement that it was “extremely disappointed” and said shopping at malls would have been “a positive alternative to the cramped aisles at grocery and discount stores.”
New York’s decision could also complicate plans among the nation’s largest movie-theater chains to resume operations by mid-July.
Exhibitors such as AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. want to be open in time for the first major studio releases currently scheduled: Walt Disney Co. ’s “Mulan” on July 24, and “Tenet,” a science-fiction thriller to be released by AT&T Inc.’s Warner Bros. on July 31. Both movies have already been delayed because of the pandemic.
No studio or major chain wants to open a big-budget movie without the New York City market, which includes several of the top-performing locations in the country. Theater executives have said it makes little sense to premiere such films without New York and Los Angeles theaters open to the public, and studios are expected to further delay releases if government officials keep those cities’ multiplexes closed for longer than expected.
Alliance of New York State YMCAs Executive Director Kyle Stewart said he was dismayed by the state’s decision, and said branches in many upstate areas have been preparing to reopen for weeks.
“We know how to operate in a manner that minimizes the risk to our staff and community,” Mr. Stewart said. YMCA fitness centers have already adopted new cleaning protocols and redesigned their spaces in accordance with federal and state guidelines.
The New York state Assembly and Senate, both controlled by Democrats, voted in March to give Mr. Cuomo unilateral authority to handle the coronavirus crisis. Some lawmakers, mostly Republicans, have started calling for this power to be clawed back.
State Sen. Fred Akshar, a Republican from Binghamton, said Mr. Cuomo’s decision was “just another example of arbitrary, confusing and contradictory messages coming from Albany bureaucrats.”
Richard Azzopardi, a senior adviser to Mr. Cuomo, said 27 other states are seeing jumps in their infection rates. He urged Mr. Akshar to “knock it off with politics and pay attention with what’s going on around you.”
—Erich Schwartzel in Los Angeles contributed to this article.
Write to Jimmy Vielkind at Jimmy.Vielkind@wsj.com
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