New Roc City complex opens in New Rochelle.

The ingredients brought together in New Rochelle are diverse, but somehow, with nary a real retailer in sight, the $190 million New Roc City complex manages to organize the urban entertainment package in a fresh and exciting way.

Take the streets of Universal Studios; add a pinch of Sportime USA; a scoop of frozen Central Park pond; stack it next to a graphically energizing Olympic

Stadium rink which is overlooked by a fantasy carousel, a tot-sized helicopter ride and a round of virtual reality for all ages surrounding a centerpiece rocket to the highest point in the area; place it next door to an IMAX and a swarm of multiplexes; provide cheap family eats and a fitness center; plop in a hotel and small office tower; and then provide separate parking for its jumbo grocery store... Well, you get the general idea of New Roc.

Developed by New Roc Associates, a group that includes Robert M. Greene, Kenneth Narva and Capelli Enterprises, the 1.2 million square-foot development completely replaces the old New Rochelle Mall, both in design and spirit.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony in an outdoor courtyard on September 22nd was attended by Governor George Pataki, New Rochelle Mayor Timothy Idoni, Empire Development Corporation Chairman Charles Gargano and Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano, who welcomed the crowd.

Hot dogs, pretzels, peanuts and ice cream were provided to the several thousand invited guests that included plenty of children. To get the Sports Plus games going, guests were also provided with the credit card-like "Turbo Card" that keeps track of what is spent and can be refilled on return visits. Rather than each game spewing the usual mess of paper prize tickets, the card also tallies credits towards a full range of prizes.

All that entertainment, however, is not designed to fit a budgeting family's purse. The 235-foot Huguenot Tower Ride, for instance, costs $7. For that, you get 15 seconds worth of wishing for it to stop and then half a minute of increasingly lower bounces - none of which threatened to cause any stomach spillage.

It took longer to board, as passengers were stripped of glasses, beepers, cell phones, loose shoes, bags and cameras before being firmly strapped into one of a dozen open air seats and quietly swooshed up at 45 miles an hour for a blurry view of the Twin Towers and Long Island Sound.