The Mall at Chestnut Hill

The Mall at Chestnut Hill

Location	Newton, Massachusetts
Opening date	1974
Management	Simon Property Group
Owner	Simon Property Group & S.R. Weiner
No. of stores and services	60
No. of anchor tenants	1
Total retail floor area	477,000 ft² [1]
No. of floors	2
Website	simon.com/mall/directory.aspx?ID=786

The Mall at Chestnut Hill is an upscale, two-level enclosed shopping mall, located in the Chestnut Hill section of Newton, Massachusetts on Boylston Street (Route 9). It is managed and co-owned by Simon Property Group and is anchored by Bloomingdale's in two locations, with the Women's store located at the west end and the Men's Home & Furnishing store anchoring the east end.

History

The Mall at Chestnut Hill was built into the side of a hill in 1974 and as such had ground level access on both of its two floors. A 70,000 ft² Bloomingdale's Home Furnishings store had opened at the site in 1973^[1], while the two-story 180,000 ft² mall itself and a 123,000 ft² Filene's store opened in 1974. The Filene's had relocated from a neighboring 1950s-era location in the Chestnut Hill Shopping Center (which became the headquarters of General Cinema in 1975, and is now the location of The Container Store and an AMC Theatres). Filene's expanded in size to 186,000 ft² in 1980 with the addition of a third floor, while the mall's Bloomingdale's home store added its own third floor and was reconfigured to include a men's department to complement a Women's store it had opened across the street in 1978 at the Chestnut Hill Shopping Center.

In 1998 locally-based S.R. Weiner & Associates assumed a long-term lease on the mall property from developer C&R Realty^[2]. In December 2001 S.R. Weiner in its turn assigned management as well as sold part of its leasehold in the mall to Rodamco North America, N.V^[3]. A few months later, with the break-up of Rodamco, Simon Property Group acquired management and an interest in the mall's leasehold.

The mall's structure and anchors remained essentially intact from 1980 until 2005, when May Department Stores (the then parent of Filene's) was acquired by Federated Department Stores (the owner of Bloomingdale's). In March 2006, Federated closed the Filene's store and spent the better part of the year renovating the space. In November 2006 Bloomingdale's relocated its Women's store from the adjacent Chestnut Hill Shopping Center to the former Filene's, thereby giving The Mall at Chestnut Hill a Bloomingdale's at both the east and west ends.

The Mall was renovated in the fall of 2006 to coincide with the opening of the expanded Bloomingdale's. In addition to adding more chairs and sitting areas, a large handicapped-accessible elevator was installed in the central atrium close to the main, Route 9, entrance. However, Tragedy struck when during construction, a worker accidentally touched a live cable, killing himself.

Luxury Retailers

The Mall at Chestnut Hill is a high-end mall focusing on affluent Bostonians living in the suburbs. Some tenants include:

• Apple Store
• Bloomingdales
• Kate Spade
• "Cusp" by Neiman Marcus
• Lucky Brand Jeans
• Cole Haan
• BCBG Max Azria
• bebe
• Coach
• Brooks Brothers
• Sephora
• Optician's 3
• Hotel Chocolat
• Quadrum Gallery

Anchor Stores

• Bloomingdale's
  • Bloomingdale's Women's Store (186,000 ft²; opened 2006, former Filene's location)
  • Bloomingdale's Men's & Home Store (123,000 ft²; opened 1973)

Coordinates: 42°19′17.33″N 71°10′33.68″W / 42.3214806°N 71.1760222°W / 42.3214806; -71.1760222

References

1. ^ The New York Times, November 28, 1970, page 40, "Site in Boston Area; NEW STORE IS SET BY BLOOMINGDALE"
2. ^ The Boston Globe, November 5, 1998, page C9, "Newton firm to run Mall at Chestnut Hill"
3. ^ The Boston Globe, December 22, 2001, page C1, "ECO/S.R. Weiner sells to Rodamco"