- The Mall at 163rd Street
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The Mall at 163rd Street 
The mall's east entranceLocation North Miami Beach, Florida
United StatesCoordinates 25°55′39″N 80°10′24″W / 25.927418°N 80.173298°WCoordinates: 25°55′39″N 80°10′24″W / 25.927418°N 80.173298°W Address 1421 Northeast 163rd Street Opening date November 1, 1956 Developer Food Fair Properties Management Centro Properties Group Owner Centro Properties Group Architect Gamble, Pownall & Gilroy No. of stores and services 50+ No. of anchor tenants 5 Total retail floor area 373,273 square feet (34,678.2 m2) No. of floors 3 Website Property website The Mall at 163rd Street is an enclosed shopping mall and power center in North Miami Beach, Florida. From its opening as an open-air shopping center in 1956, it has been converted into an enclosed mall, but was later redeveloped as a combination of both formats. The mall's anchors are The Home Depot, Marshalls, Office Depot, Ross, and Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Contents
History
The mall opened on November 1, 1956 as The 163rd Street Shopping Center, anchored by a Raymond Loewy-designed Burdines and later, Richard's. In addition, it sported forty-nine outlets, including Food Fair (later Pantry Pride), J. C. Penney, M and M Cafeteria, Walgreens, and Woolworth.
Wometco 163rd Street Theatre served as an outparcel, and by 1961, was doubled as the 163rd Street & Patio Theater. In February, 1971, Jordan Marsh opened a three-story location at the shopping center's east wing.
Until the late 1970s, the center court fronting Burdines had provided countless kiddie rides, which were all encircled by a train track. A go-kart track also existed in the north parking lot, but was destroyed by Hurricane Cleo and never rebuilt.
"The Dome", the mall's interior enclosed by a Teflon canvas that's held by metal arches
From 1980 to October, 1982, the shopping center was converted into a climate-controlled enclosed mall. Colossal metal arches were flanked over the main plaza that the stores resided along, and a white, translucent, Teflon-coated canvas was placed over them. Richard's, which closed on January 11, 1980 as part of a chain-wide closure, was fashioned into a three-floor atrium. The upper level became a food court while the lower level allowed for the expansion of Spec's Music as Spec's Metro. It was at this time the mall was rebranded to its current name, however the mall's transformation was often called The Miracle on 163rd Street.
When the Aventura Mall opened in 1983, J. C. Penney moved to the new mall, in effect closing its 163rd Street store. Unable to lure a replacement anchor, the Penney's space was divided into six specialty store spaces, while the basement became an Oshman's sporting goods store. Pantry Pride closed in 1984, and Service Merchandise opened as its replacement, creating a mall entrance that Pantry Pride didn't possess. The third and most significant change involved the food court's closure due to a lack of significant foot traffic. However, it was gradually relocated downstairs to the second floor of the atrium, while the third floor converted to a Marshalls. An extra-long escalator was installed to shuttle shoppers directly up to the third floor Marshalls.
The decline of the mall began in 1991 when Jordan Marsh closed. Although a Mervyns department store took over the lower two floors of the three story structure, it closed in 1995. The biggest hit however took place in 1999, when Burdines closed and relocated to the Aventura Mall. Vacancies increased throughout the late 1990s, leaving only Marshalls and a few smaller inline stores.
The conversion of the mall into a power center began in 1996, when the movie theater outparcel was demolished to make way for The Home Depot. A major change to the enclosed mall itself occurred in October, 2003, when the Jordan Marsh building, its adjoining parking structure, and about ⅓ of the mall was demolished and replaced with a Wal-Mart Supercenter that opened in September, 2005. The remaining mall was reworked to include big-box stores, including Office Depot and Ross. Steve & Barry's opened on the upper level of the former Burdines in 2007, but closed in 2009 after a nationwide liquidation.
Anchors
- The Home Depot (opened in 1996 on the site of the former cinema)
- Marshalls (opened in 1990 in the former upper level food court)
- Office Depot (opened in 2005 in former mall space)
- Ross (opened in 2005 in a section of the renovated Burdines)
- Wal-Mart Supercenter (opened in 2005 on the site of the Mervyns wing)
Former anchors
- Burdines (opened in 1956, closed in 1999; space renovated for Ross and Steve & Barry's)
- J.C. Penney (opened in 1956, closed in 1983; converted to mall space and Oshman's)
- Jordan Marsh (opened in 1971, closed in 1991; lower two levels became Mervyns)
- Mervyn's (opened in 1993, closed in 1995; demolished for Wal-Mart Supercenter)
- Food Fair (opened in 1956, closed in 1984; eventually rebranded to Pantry Pride, became Service Merchandise with a mall entrance)
- Richard's (opened in 1956, closed 1980, converted to mall space)
- Service Merchandise (opened in 1984; closed in 2001)
- Woolworth (opened in 1956; closed 1997)
- Steve & Barry's (opened in 2007, closed in 2009)
shoes story
External links
Categories:- Shopping malls in Miami-Dade County, Florida
- Shopping malls established in 1956
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