NEWBURGH, NY-In a ground lease deal that in one respect was a long time in coming, a new Kohl's department store will be built at the site of the former Lloyd's department store here at Newburgh Plaza. Shopping center developer and investor Garden Commercial Properties of Short Hills, NJ, the owner of Newburgh Plaza, reports it has reached an agreement on an 89,000-sf ground lease with Kohl's Corp. of Menomonee Falls, WI. David Malitzky, director of development for Garden State Properties, says that demolition of the former Lloyd's department store, which has been vacant for some time, has already begun. "The Lloyd's building had become a public eyesore, sitting vacant on this property for almost a decade," says Joseph Korn, VP of development for Garden Commercial Properties. "We identified this as the ideal opportunity to turn an underutilized site into an exciting retail destination which will serve shoppers from throughout the Hudson Valley."Construction of the new Kohl's department store is scheduled to begin in April, with the store opening projected for sometime this October, a company official says. Kohl's will join Home Depot as a tenant at the 32-acre open-air Newburgh Plaza shopping center located at 1220 Route 300 near the New York State Thruway and Interstate 84.The Lloyd's department store chain was founded by the late Edward Lloyd, who is believed by many locals to be the pioneer major department store retailer in Orange County. He first opened a Lloyd's department store in the 1950s on Route 211 in Middletown and later opened the Newburgh location. However, the Lloyd's department store business fell victim to two major shopping malls that were built in Middletown, first Orange Plaza and later the Galleria at Crystal Run, as well as popular discount retailers of their day Caldor's and Bradlees.