Northgate Mall (Seattle)

Interior of Northgate Mall
Northgate Mall
Location Northgate, Seattle, Washington
Opening date April 21, 1950
Developer Allied Stores
Management Simon Property Group
Owner Simon Property Group
No. of stores and services over 125
No. of anchor tenants 4
Total retail floor area 984,000 sq ft (91,400 m2)
No. of floors 1
Website Official Website
The north entrance of Northgate Mall (with totem pole)

Northgate Mall is a shopping mall in the Northgate district of north urban Seattle, Washington. It is anchored by Bed Bath & Beyond, JCPenney, Macy's and Nordstrom.

History

An open-air retail hub in the northern environs of Seattle, Northgate Mall was one of the first post-war, suburban mall-type shopping centers in the United States. Originally known as Northgate Center, it began business with 18 stores in April 1950. By 1952, the fully leased structure housed over seventy tenants,[1] and the adjoined 4-story Northgate Building medical/dental center and Northgate Theatre, which seated over 1300 patrons.[2]

Northgate was the first of three Puget Sound-area malls developed by Allied Stores (parent company of The Bon Marché) and designed by Seattle architect John Graham, Jr. The development was built over part of Thornton Creek, on land that had been a cranberry bog in Maple Leaf neighborhood.[3][4] Northgate was the first regional shopping center in the United States to be described as a mall, in this instance a double row of stores facing each other across a covered pedestrian walkway, and was the first mall to have public restrooms.

In 1952, Redmond sculptor Dudley C. Carter designed and carved the 59-foot (18 m) cedar totem pole that decorated the grand entrance to the central retail corridor, known as the "Miracle Mall". The shopping center was originally anchored by The Bon Marché (renamed Macy's 2005). There were also a J.J. Newberry 5 and 10, Butler Brothers variety store and an A & P Supermarket.

Other tenants signing on early that still exist were National Bank of Commerce (bought by Norwest Corporation, renamed Wells Fargo) and locally owned Nordstrom's Shoes. This was expanded into a full line clothing store in 1965. Opened as a Best's Apparel, a division of the Nordstrom Company since 1963, it was rebranded as Nordstrom Best in 1967 and Nordstrom in 1973. The 1965 expansion that added the Best's Apparel store also included an extension of the south end of the complex. This was anchored by a new J.C. Penney and QFC (Quality Food Center) grocery.

The "Miracle Mall" concourse had been partially enclosed with a "SkyShield" structure in 1962. This was replaced in 1973-1974, with the mall corridor being fully enclosed. The official name of the shopping complex was changed to Northgate Mall at this time. Seattle-based Lamonts added a store to the northern end of the concourse in 1977. After the acquisition of the Lamonts department store chain by Gottschalks in 2000, Gottschalks was located at Northgate Mall until September 2006. It closed after six years due to underperforming sales, and the former location is currently the home to DSW and Bed, Bath and Beyond. In January 2012, Toys "R" Us closed which coincided with the end of its lease.[5]

Capitalizing on Northgate's success, Allied Stores commissioned Graham to design the fully enclosed Tacoma Mall, which opened in 1964, and Tukwila's Southcenter Mall in 1968. By 1980, there were 123 stores at Northgate Mall. Construction began in the summer of 2006 on a 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m2) lifestyle-type addition to the mall. This was completed in early 2008.[6] Anchor stores are Nordstrom, Macy's, J.C. Penney, and Bed Bath and Beyond.[7]

Green River Killer

On September 12, 1983, Tracy Ann Winston was abducted from Northgate Mall and murdered by Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer.[8][9]

Northgate Mall remodeling project

In 2006, Simon Properties embarked on an expansion of Northgate Mall, in part because of the city's plan for revitalizing the Northgate neighborhood. The expansion plans included a new outdoor "urban-village" on the western end of the mall facing Interstate 5. This village opened in November 2007.

A new five level parking garage at the south end of the mall provides parking for mall users and additional transit parking. The totem pole at the north entrance of the mall was removed in September 2007.[10] Around the same time, the original Northgate Theatre and 4-story Northgate Building were demolished to make space for new tenants.

Location

The mall is bounded on the north by NE Northgate Way (formerly NE 110th Street), on the west by 1st Avenue NE, on the south by NE 103rd Street, and on the east by 5th Avenue NE.[3] The Northgate informal district and Northgate Way were both named after the mall.[11] The original mall has itself become the anchor for development of surrounding apartment buildings, retail and light commercial blocks and community spaces, all now part of a more comprehensive plan for growth such as the opportunities and impacts of transit facilities and the light rail station for the district.[12]

Transit

The first express bus service in Washington State was launched with service between Northgate and Downtown (1970). The "Blue Streak" served as a model for dozens of additional park-and-ride routes implemented by Metro Transit over western King County and linking with Snohomish and Pierce counties; it was replaced with the modern route 41 in subsequent decadse.[13]

An elevated Link Light Rail station to the west of the mall, connected to the Northgate Transit Center, will open in 2021 as the final station on the Northgate Link Extension.[14]

Anchors

Former

References

  1. ↑ Pocock, Emil. "Shopping Center History". American Studies at Eastern Connecticut State University. Archived from the original on 2012-04-04. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
  2. ↑ http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=3186
  3. 1 2 "Maple Leaf". Seattle City Clerk's Neighborhood Map Atlas. Office of the Seattle City Clerk. n.d., map .jpg c. 2002-06-17. Retrieved 2006-04-21. Check date values in: |date= (help) "NN-1030S", "NN-1040S".jpg dated 17 June 2002.
  4. ↑ (1) "Northgate". Seattle City Clerk's Neighborhood Map Atlas. Office of the Seattle City Clerk. n.d., map .jpg 2002-06-17. Retrieved 2006-04-21. Check date values in: |date= (help)
    (2) "About the Seattle City Clerk's On-line Information Services". Information Services. Office of the Seattle City Clerk. 2006-04-30, revised. Retrieved 2006-05-21. Check date values in: |date= (help)
    See heading, "Note about limitations of these data".
  5. ↑ "Toys R Us closing Northgate store". The Seattle Times. 2011-12-28.
  6. ↑ Wilma (2005)
  7. ↑ "Northgate Information". Home > Mall Information. Simon Properties. n.d., 2006 per soon stores in "Northgate Directory". Retrieved 2006-04-21. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ↑ http://swopeast.org/?q=node/117
  9. ↑ Gary Ridgway
  10. ↑ http://wikimapia.org/9446524/Northgate-Totem-Pole
  11. ↑ Phelps, p.34; Chapter 16, "Street Names and House Numbering", pp. 225-235
  12. ↑ (1) Langston, for one example of numerous.
    (2) "Northgate Revitalization: Overview". Seattle Department of Planning and Development. 2005-01-03. Retrieved 2006-05-21.
    (3) "Northgate Revitalization: Northgate Public Process History". Seattle Department of Planning and Development. 2004-08-12. Retrieved 2006-05-21.
    (4) "Northgate Revitalization: Building Northgate". Seattle Department of Planning and Development. 2006-05-10. Retrieved 2006-05-21.
    (5) See also GI Joes–Target complex c. early 2000s, and Group Health Northgate (1958) [HistoryLink Staff].
  13. ↑ Crowley
  14. ↑ "Northgate Station" (PDF). Sound Transit. July 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2015.

Bibliography

Coordinates: 47°42′21″N 122°19′34″W / 47.7059°N 122.3260°W / 47.7059; -122.3260

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