Riverchase Galleria

infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = Riverchase Galleria


caption = The Riverchase Galleria's center court
location = Hoover, Alabama (Birmingham)
opening_date = February 19, 1986
developer = Jim Wilson & Associates
manager = General Growth Properties
owner = General Growth Properties/Jim Wilson & Associates
number_of_stores = 155 [http://www.ggp.com/properties/Centerinfo.asp?smuid=719]
number_of_anchors = 5
floor_area = 1.9 million ft² [http://www.jwamalls.com/uploadedFiles/Properties/Retail/Riverchase_Galleria/riverchase.pdf]
floors = 2
website = [http://www.riverchasegalleria.com/ riverchasegalleria.com]

Riverchase Galleria, locally known as The Galleria, is a large super–regional shopping mall in the Birmingham suburb of Hoover, Alabama. It is managed and partially owned by General Growth Properties and is Alabama's largest enclosed shopping center with 1.9 million square feet (222,967 m²) of total retail floor area. The Riverchase Galleria is one of the state's most popular tourist destinations attracting customers from the neighboring states of Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

Located at the intersection of US 31 (Montgomery Highway) and Interstate 459, the Riverchase Galleria complex includes the two-level Galleria Mall, the 15-story, 330-room Wynfrey Hotel, and the 17-story, 285,000 square foot (26,000 m²) Galleria Tower office building located in the mall's Center Court. The style of the Riverchase Galleria is modeled after the Houston Galleria.

The Galleria is part of the Riverchase planned development, including a residential community and a business community located in the southern part of the city of Hoover. Riverchase was annexed in September 1980 into Hoover, which has since more than quadrupled in population and has become the second largest city in the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area. [ [http://www.hooveral.org/CitySub.asp?PageID=504 History of Hoover, Alabama] ]

History

"The Galleria", as it is locally known, was opened on February 19, 1986 by developer Jim Wilson & Associates. Initially 1.2 million square feet with four anchor stores — two Birmingham-based chains, Parisian and Pizitz — along with Atlanta-based Rich's and national retailer J. C. Penney. In March 1987, the mall added its first Macy's store at center court, marking the company's first store in Alabama. Within the same year, the Pizitz chain was acquired by McRae's of Jackson, Mississippi, and subsequently renamed. In 1995 Parisian expanded their store by almost two-thirds, while in 1996 Sears and a new wing were added, making Riverchase Galleria a total 1.9 million square feet (160,000 m²) in size. The expansion made it the largest mixed-use project in the Southeast, and one of the top 10 largest mixed-use projects in the United States.

In 2003, the mall began to feel the effects of department store consolidation when the Macy's anchor store closed, while the Rich's location was renamed Rich's-Macy's. The consolidation came some nine years after Federated Department Stores (the parent of Rich's since 1976) had acquired R. H. Macy & Company. Following the closure of the original Macy's location, the property was sold to Saks Incorporated, by then the parent of both McRae's and Parisian. Saks kept the north wing anchor space vacant for more than a year before reopening the refurbished store in October 2004 under its Proffitt's division, giving the company three different anchors at Riverchase. On March 6, 2005, the Rich's-Macy's store was officially rechristened as Macy's. Later in 2005, Saks sold its Proffitt's division — including most of the McRae's chain — to Belk. As a result, Saks closed the convert|131000|sqft|m2|-2|abbr=on McRae's store. Belk dissolved the separate Proffitt's organization, and on March 8, 2006 (almost exactly one year following the Rich's conversion) the Proffitt's store at Riverchase became the mall's first Belk store.

In late 2003, Jim Wilson & Associates (JW&A) sold 50% of the Galleria to General Growth Properties (GGP), which assumed management control.

In 2006, Belk acquired the Parisian store chain from Saks Incorporated. Additionally, the former Pizitz/McRae's location simultaneously became available for occupancy. The store had remained vacant since the 2005 closure of McRae's as a result of a lawsuit between the Pizitz family (which had retained ownership of the store real estate after its sale in 1987) and Saks Incorporated (which inherited the lease obligations of its defunct McRae's operation). [http://www.al.com/business/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/business/11726542743410.xml&coll=2] As part of its merger of the Parisian stores into its operations, Belk closed its location in the original Macy's space in favor of the former Parisian. The upper level of the former Pizitz/McRae's has since been converted to a Belk Home & Children's Store [http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1187857991101220.xml&coll=2&thispage=1] , with its grand opening held on November 14, 2007.

The Galleria Today

Currently, the Galleria has 218 stores and restaurants and is anchored by 5 department stores (J.C. Penney, Belk (2 locations), Macy's, and Sears). There are two parking decks located on the property (attached to various mall entrances) of The Galleria providing approximately 5,000 total parking spaces.

Located on the Galleria property on outparcels are several restaurants including California Pizza Kitchen, Ted's Montana Grill, Bonefish Grill, J. Alexander's, Stix, and Olive Garden. The Home Depot, FedEx Kinko's, and Costco are located on other outparcels on the property. The first Just For Feet superstore opened at the Galleria in 1987 but closed with the rest of the chain in 2004. There was also a 10-screen Regal Cinemas movie theater on an outparcel of the property but it was closed in 2006 after the construction of a Rave Motion Pictures at neighboring Patton Creek Shopping Center.

In the center of the Grand Atrium/food court, sits a full-size, authentic 19th Century Dentzel Carousel. In the past, the carousel was dismantled for part of the year, with foliage and a fountain in its place, and reassembled for the holiday season. Currently, the carousel has remained in place for several years. Occasionally, the traditional carousel animals are replaced with reindeer for the holiday season as well. The cost of rides is currently $3 per person.

On May 5, 2006, the Galleria opened the state's first Sephora store. This was followed in 2007 by the announcement that one would open in at The Summit, also in Birmingham.

On November 1, 2007 the Galleria also opened the states first Helzberg Diamonds store, a high quality jewlery store.

On November 30, 2007 the Galleria announced that Nordstrom plans to open the state's first store in the mall in 2012, assuming the anchor space first occupied by Macy's in 1987, Proffitt's in 2004, and Belk in 2006. [ [http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=93295&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1083012&highlight Nordstrom to Open First Alabama Store at Riverchase Galleria in Birmingham] ]

Anchor & Major Stores

*Belk (opened 1986 as Parisian, became Belk in 2007, expanding in 2008) (convert|203500|sqft|m2|-1|abbr=on)
*Belk Home and Children's (opened 2007 in upper level of former Pizitz/McRae's)
*JCPenney (opened 1986) (convert|135163|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)
*Macy's (opened 1986 as Rich's, became Macy's 2005) (convert|220000|sqft|m2|-3|abbr=on)
*"Nordstrom (Opening Spring 2012 on the site of the former Macy's/Proffitt's/Belk)" (convert|144000|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on; subject to change)
*Sears (opened 1996) (convert|150000|sqft|m2|-3|abbr=on)

Former Anchors

*Belk "(opened 2004 as Proffitt's in former Macy's, became Belk 2006, closed 2007 (Belk now occupies the former Parisian store in the mall), reopening as Nordstrom in 2012)" (convert|255000|sqft|m2|-2|abbr=on)
*Macy's "(opened 1987, mall's first/original Macy's store, closed 2003 (Macy's now occupies the former Rich's store in the mall), reopening as Nordstrom in 2012)" (convert|255000|sqft|m2|-2|abbr=on)
*McRae's "(opened 1986 as Pizitz, became McRae's 1987, closed 2005, upper level became Belk Home Store 2007)" (convert|131000|sqft|m2|-2|abbr=on)
*Parisian "(opened 1986, became Belk 2007)" (203,500 sq ft (18,910 m²))
*Pizitz "(opened 1986, became McRae's 1987, closed 2005)" (convert|131000|sqft|m2|-2|abbr=on)
*Proffitt's "(opened 2004 in former Macy's, became Belk 2006, reopening as Nordstrom in 2012)" (convert|255000|sqft|m2|-2|abbr=on)
*Rich's "(opened 1986, operated as Rich's-Macy's 2003-2005, renamed Macy's 2005)" (convert|220000|sqft|m2|-3|abbr=on)

Other

* The Riverchase Galleria is home to the world's longest skylight at some 200 feet. Fact|date=September 2007
* Taylor Hicks, the 2006 winner of "American Idol", worked at the Riverchase Galleria, where he dressed as an Easter Bunny. Two weeks before his final victory, Hicks returned to the Galleria for a rally in his honor in the atrium, attended by an estimated 10,000 fans. Fact|date=September 2007

References

External links

* [http://www.riverchasegalleria.com Official Website]
*Geolinks-US-streetscale|33.379243|-86.808987