All Over Albany

The next life of the Latham Circle Mall

A conceptual sketch of the "Shoppes at Latham Circle."

The Latham Circle Mall has already lived a few lifetimes. It was built in 1957 as an open air mall, and then converted to an indoor mall two decades later. Today, well, it's more or less dead.

But reincarnation may be just ahead. A development group is proposing to demolish a large part of the Latham Circle Mall and build again as the "The Shoppes at Latham Circle" -- with retail, restaurants, entertainment and -- gasp -- maybe a supermarket.

Here's the outline of the plan...

(there's more)

The recipe for a juicy rumor -- or, Did you hear the one about Wegmans and Albany?

The ingredients are there...

Hey, have you heard the rumor about Wegmans coming to Albany? At the Latham Circle Mall? At the First Prize Center?

Variations of this rumor have been circulating since at least the beginning of the year. We've heard from it about 100 different people (an exaggeration, but not by much). And they all heard from a guy who knows a guy who... you get the picture.

The latest version surfaced Tuesday and it goes like this: the big W has bought the Latham Circle Mall -- it's a done deal -- and Wegmans will start demolition/construction soon. Since then, we've watched search referral traffic for "wegmans albany" come rolling in. The word has obviously gotten around.

Well, for what it's worth, Jo Natale -- a spokesperson for Wegmans -- told us today that the company has not bought the Latham Circle Mall property.

But that story is just so delicious. And it's easy to see why -- it follows the recipe for a juicy rumor...

(there's more)