Citadel Mall (Charleston, South Carolina)

"For other malls with this name, see Citadel Mall."

infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = Citadel Mall

|
caption =
location = 2070 Sam Rittenberg Boulevard, Charleston, South Carolina, USA 29407
hours =
opening_date = 1981
architect =
owner = CBL & Associates Properties
developer= Jacobs, Visconti & Jacobs
number_of_stores = 100
number_of_anchors = 6
area =
floor_area = convert|1117380|sqft|m2|0 [http://www.costar.com/freesearch/Detail/Detail.aspx?p=0D77BDF7FEA8F66CAA7C28AAA683CA3C]
(GLA)
parking =
floors = 1
website = [http://www.shopcitadel-mall.com/ Citadel Mall online]
manager = CBL & Associates Properties

Citadel Mall is a regional shopping mall located in Charleston, South Carolina.

Development

The mall opened in 1981 as a project of national mall developer Jacobs, Visconti & Jacobs of Cleveland, Ohio. Citadel Mall is located at the intersection of Sam Rittenberg Boulevard (S.C. Highway 7) and Savannah Highway (U.S. Highway 17) at the junction of Interstate 526 in the heavily commercialized West Ashley neighborhood of Charleston.

Opening

At the time of its opening, Citadel Mall was anchored by Sears which relocated from Downtown Charleston, Belk, which shuttered a 1950s store in North Charleston and relocated to the mall, and Thalhimer's, an upscale department store new to South Carolina owned by Carter Hawley Hale Stores.

Features

In addition to the 3 anchor stores, the mall featured approximately 100 national specialty retailers and eateries - many of which were new to the Charleston area. The mall was well-received in Charleston and was the catalyst for many nearby large-scale commercial projects as shopping centers and restaurants were built all around the mall's perimeter.

Today, the mall contains a gross leasing area of 1,109,765 square feet, boasting a total of 106 in-line stores.

New Changes

Dillard's

Jacobs, Visconti & Jacobs later became The Richard E. Jacobs Group in the 1990s. The first major change at the mall occurred in 1992 when it was announced that Thalhimer's, now owned by the May Department Store Company would be folded into the Hecht's Department Store chain and the Charleston location would be sold to Dillard's. Dillard's operated in the former Thalhimer's building until 1994 when they relocated to a newly constructed, much larger new building at the mall.

Target

Dillard's sub-leased the former Thalhimer's building to JCPenney, though the former eventually shuttered this location. Target purchased the vacant two-story JCPenney building and demolished it to make way for a new Target store - the first in Charleston. Target's success at Citadel Mall prompted the company to quickly construct three other locations in the Charleston area.

Belk

Not to be out done by Dillard's and its luxurious and spacious new store, Belk announced plans to construct a convert|200000|sqft|m2|-4 two-level flagship prototype store on the back of the mall next to Dillard's. Belk sold their vacated building to Parisian, a division of Saks Incorporated, who completely gutted the interior and opened an upscale two-level department store. It was announced in August 2006 that Saks Incorporated would sell their Parisian chain to Belk Incorporated and that all Parisian stores will be converted to Belk in the third quarter of 2007.

Belk announced in a press release that the Citadel Mall Parisian store would close on February 2, 2007 since Belk already operates a newer, larger store at the mall. JCPenney returned to the mall and opened in the vacated Parisian store in October 2007.

Renovation & Food Court Addition

The Richard E. Jacobs Group added a Food Court and completely remodeled the mall's interior in the early 2000s. Shortly thereafter, Jacobs divested the majority of its mall portfolio and sold Citadel Mall to CBL & Associates Properties. CBL added a sixth anchor store to the mix in 2005 - Dick's Sporting Goods on an outparcel next to the mall's freestanding six screen AMC Theaters.

New Cinema Megaplex

On April 8, 2008, AMC Theaters announced that it was closing its Citadel Mall Cinema 6 after the final showing on Sunday, April 13, 2008. The cinema was originally built as a part of the General Cinemas chain which later was sold to AMC Theaters. General Cinemas had announced plans to demolish and replace the Citadel Mall Cinema 6 with a huge new multiplex featuring stadium seating and Dolby surround sound to be built on a vacant parcel of land behind the existing cinemas. With the sale to AMC these plans never materialized. AMC also announced plans to close its Northwoods Mall Cinema 8 on the same date. On April 12, 2008 it was announced that the property was acquired by Southeast Cinema Entertainment of Charlotte, NC. It was reopened temporarily until September 2008 when the current cinema building was demolished. It is in the process of being replaced by a state of the art sixteen screen megaplex with several screens dedicated to art films and featuring stadium-style seating with leather seats, 3-D and IMAX capabilities, and a bistro satellite featuring an upscale menu, scheduled to open in June 2009.

Anchors

*Belk (convert|189892|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)
*Dick's Sporting Goods (convert|45000|sqft|m2|-2|abbr=on)
*Dillard's (convert|186455|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)
*JCPenney (convert|129790|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)
*Sears (convert|120816|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)
*Target (convert|125381|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)

Food court

*Charley's Steakery
*Chick-fil-A
*Dairy Queen
*Orange Julius
*Oriental Express
*Sarku Japan
*Sbarro The Italian Eatery
*Subway

Outparcels

* [http://www.southeastcinemas.com/citadel-mall-6-charleston.htm Citadel Mall Cinema 6] (freestanding) - demolished - to be replaced by a new 16-screen megaplex opening June 2009
*PetSmart (freestanding)
*Dick's Sporting Goods (freestanding)
*Red Lobster (freestanding)

External links

* [http://www.citadelmall.net/ Citadel Mall website.] The website for Citadel Mall
* [http://www.cblproperties.com/ CBL & Associates website.] The owner of Citadel Mall