WAER reported that Angela DeSantis lives near the old ShoppingTown Mall in DeWitt and told county officials at an April town hall meeting exactly how that feels: "All these years, we've been held hostage by the county," she said, describing the graffiti and overgrown weeds she watches from her yard. She wasn't complaining about a pothole or a slow snowplow. She was talking about 65 acres of dead retail space that has now outlasted three different redevelopment plans.
If you're comparing DeWitt to Manlius or Fayetteville right now using nothing but a median price chart, you're missing the thing that will actually move that chart over the next several years. It isn't inventory. It isn't interest rates. It's a shuttered mall on Erie Boulevard whose next chapter will shape traffic patterns, tax revenue, and property values for blocks in every direction.
What the Price Data Actually Says
As of May 2026, the median sale price for a home in DeWitt sat at $324,670, down a slight 0.56% from a year earlier. On its own, that reads as a market catching its breath. But look at February 2026 alongside it and a more interesting picture appears: homes were selling in an average of 32 days, up from 29 days the year before, while the price per square foot had climbed 17.4% year over year to $175. Eighteen homes sold that month, compared to 16 the February before.
Put those together and you get a market where the median is flat or slightly down while the per-square-foot value is rising fast. That's not a contradiction. It usually means the mix of homes selling has shifted, with different square footage and different price points moving through the market than a year ago, even as buyers pay more for every square foot they get. A flat median can hide real appreciation happening underneath it, and in DeWitt right now, it does.
Property listings across the town lean hard on one detail: the Jamesville-DeWitt School District boundary. It shows up in listing after listing, a signal that buyers are actively filtering for it. That pull matters for demand, but it doesn't explain what happens to that demand once a 65-acre commercial void at the center of town finally resolves itself.
The Site the Median Price Doesn't Account For
ShoppingTown Mall opened as an open-air shopping center in 1954 and was enclosed in 1973, anchoring that stretch of Erie Boulevard for decades. It has sat vacant since March 2020. The property sits close to Marshalls Plaza, Erie Boulevard, and several town parks, including Ryder, Cedar Bay, and Butternut Creek, with the Erie Canalway Trail running nearby. That's not a forgotten corner of DeWitt. It's adjacent to the same amenities that make the surrounding neighborhoods desirable in the first place.
A vacant mall of that size sitting empty for six years is unusual anywhere. What makes DeWitt's version relevant to a buyer today is how unresolved it still is, and how much county officials have said they want to build there once it clears.
How the County Ended Up Back at the Starting Line
In 2021, Onondaga County selected a developer group called OHB Redev LLC to lead a project named District East, envisioning more than 900 residential units alongside retail and commercial space. That plan collapsed in October 2025. County Executive Ryan McMahon announced OHB Redev was stepping away because the group couldn't secure site control. Two parcels, the former Sears building and the former Macy's building, were still independently owned and hadn't been folded into the deal.
The county went after the Macy's parcel through eminent domain. In April 2026, State Supreme Court Judge Joseph Lamendola approved the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency's request to take ownership of that parcel, owned by Benderson Development, clearing the way for the county to finally control all 65 acres. The county's offer for the parcel was $2.5 million, an amount Benderson can still contest in court.
The county issued a new request for development proposals on March 10, 2026, this time asking $25 million for the whole property, with officials saying they'd consider a lower bid if a plan delivered strong community value. Proposals were due May 14, 2026. The RFP requires that any winning plan include housing, retail, and office space, and it explicitly allows for warehousing and manufacturing, a nod to the region's growing tech and semiconductor sector.
Four days after the eminent domain ruling, McMahon and County Legislator Dan Romeo held a town hall at DeWitt Town Hall on Butternut Drive to walk residents through what comes next. The room was full. That's where DeSantis spoke, and where Sam Feldman, who had moved to DeWitt from out of state that August, told a reporter for WAER, "I just want to be optimistic," while saying he'd wait to see whether the county's next moves actually reflected what residents wanted.
What Residents Are Asking For, and What the County Says It's Planning
According to WAER, McMahon has described his ideal outcome as a mixed-use project anchored by a strong tenant, possibly in a high-tech field, paired with empty-nester housing like condos and a mix of retail. Residents at the April town hall pushed for something different: more green and open space, senior housing, and real concern about plans that lean too industrial or generate heavy traffic on an already busy stretch of Erie Boulevard.
Those two visions aren't necessarily incompatible, but they point to genuinely different outcomes for the neighborhoods around the site. A plan weighted toward warehousing or manufacturing changes truck traffic and noise in a way that a plan weighted toward walkable retail and housing does not. A plan with substantial green space next to Cedar Bay and Butternut Creek Parks reads differently to a nearby buyer than one that maximizes commercial square footage.
Why This Matters More Than the Days-on-Market Number
If you're evaluating DeWitt against a neighboring town, the current price data tells you the market is competitive and homes aren't sitting long. It doesn't tell you that the town's biggest single land-use decision in decades is still being negotiated in a courtroom and a county office, with proposals having been due May 14, 2026. It doesn't tell you that a $25 million asking price and a mandate for housing and mixed retail suggest the county is serious about turning this into something occupied again, not just cleaned up.
For a buyer looking at a home within walking distance of that Erie Boulevard frontage, the eventual use of those 65 acres is arguably a bigger driver of five-year value than this month's median price. A home near a well-executed mixed-use development with housing, green space, and walkable retail is a different asset than one near a warehousing complex with heavy truck traffic. Both are still possible outcomes as of today.
A few things worth tracking if you're watching this site closely:
- Whether the county selects a developer from the proposals submitted by the May 14, 2026 deadline, and what that plan actually prioritizes
- Whether Benderson Development's contest over the $2.5 million Macy's parcel valuation delays the timeline further
- Whether any selected plan leans toward the housing and retail mix residents asked for at the April town hall, or toward the warehousing and manufacturing use the RFP also permits
None of that shows up in a Redfin snapshot or a listing sheet. It shows up in county board minutes, court filings, and town hall meetings that most people comparing suburbs on paper never read.
A Couple of Direct Questions
Is the ShoppingTown site actually going to get built on, or has this stalled before? It has stalled before, twice. The 2021 District East plan under OHB Redev fell apart in 2025 over site control. What's different now is that the county finally holds all 65 acres outright following the April 2026 court ruling, which removes the obstacle that killed the last deal.
Does this affect home values everywhere in DeWitt, or just near the mall? The most direct effect will be felt on the streets closest to Erie Boulevard and the site itself. The broader town benefits or loses depending on whether the redevelopment adds tax base and amenities or sits vacant even longer, since Onondaga County's own framing has treated this parcel as central to DeWitt's commercial identity for years.
If you're weighing a move into DeWitt and want a read on how a specific block or street relates to this site, that's a conversation worth having before you fall in love with a listing photo. Robert Zaccaria has been tracking this one closely and is glad to talk through what it might mean for a particular address.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
