Pheasant Lane Mall

Pheasant Lane Mall is a shopping mall in south Nashua, New Hampshire. With a floor area 979,427 square feet (90,992 m²), it is the second-largest mall in the state. Located just south of Exit 1 of the F.E. Everett Turnpike (U.S. Route 3) in Nashua and directly at northbound exit-only Exit 91 off US 3 in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, the property straddles the state line, although the entire mall is in New Hampshire.

Pheasant Lane Mall

Sign for Pheasant Lane Mall on Daniel Webster Highway, November 2020
Location	Nashua, New Hampshire, United States
Coordinates	42°42′06″N 71°26′15″W
Address	310 Daniel Webster Highway
Opening date	July 23, 1986; 39 years ago (July 23, 1986)[1]
Management	Simon Property Group
Owner	Simon Property Group
No. of stores and services	139[2]
No. of anchor tenants	5 (4 open, 1 vacant)
Total retail floor area	979,427 square feet (90,992 m2)[3]
No. of floors	2
Public transit access	NTS 6
Website	www.simon.com/mall/pheasant-lane-mall

As of 2025, the mall has about 139 stores and kiosks, including four anchor stores: Dick's Sporting Goods, JCPenney, Macy's, and Target; a casino that opened in March 2025 in the space formerly occupied by a Sears store; and 15 restaurants. Since 2012 it has been owned and managed by Simon Property Group of Indianapolis.

Proximity to the border has long drawn shoppers from Massachusetts seeking to take advantage of New Hampshire's lack of a sales tax.

Approximately one third of the parking lot and water runoff area is located in Tyngsborough. Shoppers who park in front of the former Sears entrance closer to Buffalo Wild Wings walk across the state line in front of the building on the sidewalk to get to and from their cars. The JCPenney store was originally built with a square corner that reached slightly across the border into Massachusetts, but was then modified to an unusual pentagonal shape at the state line to keep it entirely within New Hampshire by a few inches. Without that modification, the entire mall would have been subject to Massachusetts sales taxes on non-clothing items, even though only a few inches of the structure was in Massachusetts.^[4]

It is second in size among New Hampshire malls only to The Mall at Rockingham Park in Salem.

History

The state line runs through the parking lot, with JCPenney ending at the line (New Hampshire on the left, Mass. on the right). The truck in the background is parked in both states.

The mall site was first re-zoned by the Nashua Board of Aldermen in December 1978 with the intention of clearing the way for primary owners Yankee Greyhound Inc. to build a major regional retail center on the site.^[5] By early 1984, the property was owned by State Properties of New England, previously a minority owner; ground work had been started and steel had been ordered.^[6] After more than two years of construction, Pheasant Lane Mall opened on July 23, 1986. The original anchors were JCPenney, Jordan Marsh, Lechmere, and Sears with Filene's added in 1993.^[1] The site was previously a drive-in movie theatre, and for several years following its opening, the former movie screen was used to display the double pheasant logo of the mall.

The resulting mall development transformed South Nashua. It turned the southeastern portion of the city, roughly conforming to the city's 8th ward, from a sparsely populated outlier area into a swath of financial, retail and high-density residential development that stretches from over the state border in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, to Exit 3 of the Everett Turnpike, just south of Rivier College. The rise of South Nashua spurred by Pheasant Lane Mall has elevated Nashua's municipal identity beyond gateway to New Hampshire, and helped create its current status as part of the Greater Boston economic area, and a hub for surrounding bedroom communities.

Border Proximity

Originally, the mall was to straddle the border between New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The initial plan called for retail stores to be situated on the New Hampshire side, to take advantage of the state's lack of a sales tax. Restaurants were to be on the Massachusetts side, since taxes on food would be lower in Massachusetts (5% sales tax in 1986, 6.25% in 2025) than in New Hampshire (9% prepared meals tax).

However, the government of Massachusetts declared all customers, in all stores, would have to pay sales tax to Massachusetts. Therefore, the mall was redesigned so that all stores and restaurants were on the New Hampshire side of the border.^[7]

However, the site lines had been drawn up incorrectly, placing one corner of the JCPenney building in Massachusetts. Consequently, the corner of JCPenney was cut off and re-bricked into its current pentagonal shape.^[7]

Anchors

Current Tenants

Occupant	Since	Notes
Target	Fall 1999	Previously occupied by Lechmere (1986–1997).
Macy's	2006	Previously occupied by Filene's (1993–2006). Converted from Filene's after merger of May Department Stores (Filene's parent) with Federated Department Stores (Macy's parent).
The Nash Casino	March 2025	Previously occupied by Sears (1986–2020).
JCPenney	July 1986	original tenant
Dick's Sporting Goods	2006	previously occupied by Jordan Marsh (1986–1996) and Macy's (1996–2006). Floor space also occupied by restaurants Burtons Grill & Bar and Red Robin, and Shops Visionworks and Massage Envy Spa.

Previous Tenants

Occupant	Opened	Closed	Notes
Jordan Marsh	July 1986	Spring 1996	Original tenant. Currently occupied by Dick's Sporting Goods.
Sears	July 1986	February 2020	Original tenant. Currently occupied by The Nash Casino.
Lechmere	July 1986	Fall 1997	Original tenant. Currently occupied by Target.
Filene's	1993	2006	Converted to Macy's after merger of May Department Stores (Filene's parent) with Federated Department Stores (Macy's parent).

In 2011, Pheasant Lane underwent a $10 million renovation that included a redesign of the food court, new lighting and fixtures, ceramic tiles and carpeting, as well as an expansion to the number of retailers and restaurants. The renovations were finished by September 2012.^[8][9]

In 2015, Sears Holdings spun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at Pheasant Lane Mall, into Seritage Growth Properties.^[10] The store closed on February 2, 2020.^[11][12]

See also

• Nashua Transit System