Westdale Mall

infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = Westdale Mall

---

image_width=300
caption =
location = Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States
opening_date = October 4, 1979
developer = The Hahn Company
manager = Heritage Property Management/
General Growth Properties (leasing)
owner = Cedar Rapids Properties, Inc.
number_of_stores = 42 (as of July 2008) [cite web|author=General Growth Properties|title=Westdale Mall: Tenant List|url=http://www.shopwestdale.com/html/storedirectory.asp|accessdate=2008-07-01 Count excludes government offices that have temporarily relocated to Westdale after the Iowa flood of 2008.]
number_of_anchors = 3 (+1 vacant anchor)
floor_area = 854,000 ft² (79,000 m²)cite web|author=General Growth Properties|title=Westdale Mall: Center Information|url=http://www.ggp.com/properties/Centerinfo.asp?smuid=855|accessdate=2007-02-02]
floors = 2
parking = 5,500 spaces
website = [http://www.shopwestdale.com www.shopwestdale.com]

Westdale Mall is an enclosed super-regional shopping mall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The two-level mall on the southwest side of Cedar Rapids is one of the city's two enclosed malls, along with Lindale Mall on the city's northeast side. In recent years, Westdale has taken on some characteristics of a dead mall as one of its four anchor stores and an estimated 60 percent of inline stores have been vacated as of July 2007.cite news|first=Rick|last=Smith|title=No surprises in mall foreclosure sale|url=http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070710/BUSINESS/70710021/1007/BUSINESS|work=The Gazette (Cedar Rapids)|date=2007-07-10]

History

Planning and construction

Plans for Westdale Mall were first announced on March 29, 1972. Original plans called for a convert|560000|sqft|m2|-3|sing=on mall with two or three anchor stores and 30 to 50 smaller stores on 66 acres of land. Later that year, developer Ernest W. Hahn of The Hahn Company acquired the mall's property from Midwest Development of Cedar Rapids and Dial Realty of Omaha, Nebraska. In 1974, Hahn asked the Cedar Rapids City Council to rezone an additional 21 acres of land from residential to commercial use. An organization of citizens known as "Taxpayers for Sensible Planning" opposed the rezoning, claiming that construction of a larger mall would have a severe impact on existing businesses in the Cedar Rapids area. Despite the opposition, the City Council approved the rezoning by a 4-1 vote on May 22, 1974. The recession of 1974 delayed the start of construction until May of 1976 and a seven-week electricians' strike delayed the mall's opening to October 4, 1979.cite news|first=Dick|last=Hogan|title=7-year saga of Westdale project|work=The Gazette|date=1979-09-30|page=1C]

Despite the construction problems and layoffs in Cedar Rapids' manufacturing sector during the recession of 1980, Westdale Mall was at 93 percent capacity with 114 stores by the beginning of 1981. Westdale attracted shoppers from counties throughout eastern Iowa and surrounding states, including cities such as Davenport and Waterloo that already had enclosed malls.cite news|first=John|last=Carlson|title=Cedar Rapids survives... despite tough times in 1980|work=Des Moines Sunday Register|date=1981-01-11|pages=42Y-43Y]

Anchor and ownership changes

JCPenney, Montgomery Ward, Younkers, and Brandeis signed on as anchors before construction of Westdale Mall began, but Brandeis withdrew from the mall while its store was still under construction. Wards and JCPenney, which both relocated from downtown Cedar Rapids, were the first two anchor stores to open while Younkers and Petersen Harned Von Maur (Brandeis' replacement) opened in 1980. Wards closed in early 2001 as the chain ceased operations, and the anchor space remained vacant for more than four years until Steve & Barry's opened there in November 2005. [cite news|first=David|last=DeWitte|title=Sportswear chain joins Westdale|work=The Gazette|date=2005-10-26|page=7B] On January 31, 2007, Von Maur closed its Westdale Mall store due to a decline in business and offered its 80 employees positions at its Lindale Mall and Iowa City locations. [cite news|first=Mark|last=Geary|title=Von Maur to Close Westdale Mall Location|url=http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/5341986.html|work=KCRG-TV|date=2007-01-24] That anchor space remains vacant.

Westdale Mall was built by The Hahn Company, which became TrizecHahn in 1980; TrizecHahn sold Westdale to The Rouse Company in April 1998. [cite news|first=George C|last=Ford|title=Westdale marks 20 years|work=The Gazette|date=1999-11-28|page=1F] The Festival Companies of Los Angeles, California, took over management of Westdale in November 2004. Shortly after that, Festival announced a $20 million renovation plan that would expand the mall and add a new food court. However, those plans never materialized as tenants continued to leave the mall amid competition from Coral Ridge Mall convert|20|mi|km|0 to the south. In November 2006, Westdale was placed in administrative receivership after H-N-W Associates, a part-owner of the mall, fell behind on its mortgage payments. Heritage Property Management of Cedar Rapids took over management of the mall at the time. [cite news|first=David|last=DeWitte|title=Foreclosure for Westdale Mall|work=The Gazette|date=2006-11-15|page=1A] In December 2006, General Growth Properties (owner of Coral Ridge Mall) took over the leasing duties for the mall. Westdale was sold to Cedar Rapids Properties, Inc., in a sheriff's sale on July 10, 2007.

By March 2007, over 50% of the mall stores had closed. The Cedar Rapids City Council voted to delay any major redevelopment work at the mall for six months, in the hopes that whoever purchases the mall property does not break it apart. [cite news|first=Mark|last=Geary|title=Another Store Plans to Leave Westdale Mall|url=http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/6525867.html|work=KCRG-TV|date=2007-03-16] On May 9, 2007, the City Council voted 7-1 to lift the moratorium on a mostly vacant outparcel building that was originally built as an Econofoods supermarket and was more recently a Big Lots store; two local developers planned to reconfigure that building and build a Sonic Drive-In and T.G.I. Friday's on the property. [cite news|first=Rick|last=Smith|title=Council lifts Westdale moratorium|url=http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070509/NEWS/70509042&SearchID=73284865503977|work=The Gazette|date=2007-05-09] However in September 2007 T.G.I. Friday's canceled its plans to open a restaurant at that location amid concerns that they would not make enough money there. Sonic also backed out of its plan to open a restaurant at that location shortly after that. [cite news|first=Mark|last=Geary|title=T.G.I. Fridays and Sonic Cancel Plans to Move Near Westdale Mall| Location|url=http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/9703502.html|work=KCRG-TV|date=2007-09-11] The city council later reimposed the development moratorium before they unanimously agreed to set it aside on December 19, 2007. [cite news|first=Rick|last=Smith|title=Council steps back from Westdale's troubles|url=http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/NEWS/468993128/1006|work=The Gazette|date=2007-12-19]

Some of Westdale Mall's empty stores have been used as temporary homes for city and Linn County offices in the aftermath of the Iowa flood of 2008. Disaster centers for the American Red Cross, FEMA, and the Small Business Administration have also been set up at Westdale. [cite news|first=Dave|last=Rasdal|title=New life comes to Westdale Mall|work=The Gazette|url=http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080630/NEWS/35808035/0/NEWS|date=2008-06-29]

References

External links

* [http://www.shopwestdale.com Westdale Mall]