Westfield Mission Valley

Westfield Mission Valley

Location	San Diego, California
Address	1640 Camino Del Rio North
Opening date	February 20, 1961
Developer	May Centers, Inc.
Management	Westfield Group
Owner	Westfield Group
Architect	Deems, Lewis, Martin & Associates
No. of stores and services	131[1]
No. of anchor tenants	5
Total retail floor area	1,139,602 sq ft (105,872.5 m2)[1]
Parking	7,181
No. of floors	1
Website	westfield.com/missionvalley

Westfield Mission Valley, formerly Mission Valley Center, is a shopping mall in Mission Valley area of San Diego, California, owned by The Westfield Group. Its anchor stores are Macy's, Macy's Home & Furniture Store, Nordstrom Rack, and Target. There is also an AMC Theatres multiplex.

Westfield America, Inc., a precursor to The Westfield Group acquired the shopping center in 1994, and renamed it "Westfield Shoppingtown Mission Valley", dropping the "Shoppingtown" name in June 2005.

The center complements the nearby Fashion Valley Mall where Macy's also has a full-line store. The two malls do not directly compete as Westfield has more competitively priced stores.

History

In early 1958, May Centers proposed rezoning 90 acres (360,000 m²) in the then sparsely-populated Mission Valley area of San Diego to build a shopping mall.^[2] In June of 1958, the San Diego City Council unanimously voted in favor of rezoning the 90 acres (360,000 m²) for the May plan.

Center Courtyard at Mission Valley Center, 1961

By 1959, the mall was under construction, and completed in late 1960, with a grand opening on February 20, 1961. Designed by the San Diego-based architectural firm Deems-Lewis, the mall contained two large anchor spaces, occupied by Montgomery Ward, and May Company, 70 inline stores, as well as a large central courtyard. Due to its location in the floodplain of the San Diego River, the mall was designed with the stores on the level above the parking garage. Presumably, in the event of a flood, only the parking garage would be flooded, with the retail level untouched. It was San Diego's second mall, following the opening of the College Grove Center in 1960.

The mall underwent its first expansion in 1975, with the completion of a new 3-story Bullock's, and 11 new stores. Eight years later, in 1983, the mall underwent a significant remodel, with a new Northeast wing built, which also added a two-story Saks Fifth Avenue.

In 1994, Westfield Group acquired the mall. Along with this acquisition, another major renovation of the mall was undertaken, with a new AMC Theatres 20-screen multiplex built atop the south parking lot. The renovation project also retrofitted several new stores in existing space in the northeast wing, including Michaels, Nordstorm Rack, Loehmann's, and Bed Bath & Beyond. Additionally, a large center courtyard, originally constructed as a children's playground, was covered over to provide space for a Ruby's Diner. Around this time, Macy's acquired the Bullock's chain of department stores, which led to a rebranding of the Bullock's as a Macy's Home and Furniture.

In 2001, one of the malls original tenants, Montgomery Ward, was shuttered when the chain went bankrupt. A year later, Target opened in the former Ward's space. In 2006, Macy's completed its acquisition of May Company, and the former Robinsons-May space was subsequently rebranded as a Macy's.

Future Plans

In August 2008, Westfield Group filed an application for a major renovation to the Westfield Mission Valley shopping center. The project envisions a 500,000 sq ft (46,000 m²) expansion of retail space for stores, 50,000 sq ft (4,600 m²) of commercial space, adjacent condominiums and parking. Real estate industry experts expect the project to be long-term, and development to last five to ten years.^[3]

Anchors

• Bed Bath & Beyond (77,325 sq ft.)
• Loehmann's (25,030 sq ft.)
• Macy's (363,000 sq ft.)
• Macy's Home and Furniture (173,227 sq ft.)
• Michaels (21,300 sq ft.)
• Nordstrom Rack (53,000 sq ft.)
• Sport Chalet (47,000 sq ft.)
• Target (219,303 sq ft.)

Former anchors

• Bullock's (1975–1996, now Macy's Home Store)
• May Company (1961–1993, later Robinsons-May, now Macy's)
• Montgomery Ward (1961–2001, now Target)
• Newberry's (1961-1999, now Sport Chalet)
• Robinsons-May (1993–2006, now Macy's)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Westfield Mission Valley". Westfield Group. http://westfield.com/corporate/property-portfolio/united-states/missionvalley.html. Retrieved 2011-02-09. 
2. ^ Roger Showley (June 22, 2008). "Deja Vu in Mission Valley". The San Diego Union-Tribune. http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080622/news_1h22smokes.html. 
3. ^ Penni Crabtree; Roger Showley (August 6, 2008). "Westfield files plan for condos, offices in 'village'". San Diego Union-Tribune. http://legacy.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080806-9999-1n6mission.html. 

External links

• Westfield Mission Valley Official website