Westfield Promenade

The Promenade
Location Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Coordinates 34°10′51″N 118°36′15″W / 34.180832°N 118.604257°W / 34.180832; -118.604257Coordinates: 34°10′51″N 118°36′15″W / 34.180832°N 118.604257°W / 34.180832; -118.604257
Opening date March 1973 (1973-03)
Management Westfield Group
Owner Westfield Group
No. of stores and services Less than 10 (July 2016)[1]
No. of anchor tenants 1
Total retail floor area 615,400 sq ft (57,170 m2)
No. of floors 2
Parking 2,662

The Promenade (formerly the Westfield Promenade) is a large dead shopping mall owned by Westfield Group and located on Topanga Canyon Boulevard in the Woodland Hills district of Los Angeles. It was previously known as The Promenade at Woodland Hills and Westfield Shoppingtown Promenade. The mall is anchored by a 16-screen AMC Theatre. By 2015, Westfield removed the property from its corporate website and had removed the Westfield name from all signage on the property and officially changed the name of the property to The Promenade. In October 2016, Westfield officially announced that the mall is going to be demolished and replaced by a new $1.5 billion residential development called Promenade 2035.

History

Opened in 1973 as The Promenade at Woodland Hills, it was originally a high-fashion center anchored by J. W. Robinson's, Bullocks Wilshire and Saks Fifth Avenue. The Bullocks Wilshire store was renamed I. Magnin in 1990 and in 1995 became a Bullock's Men's store, being renamed Macy's in 1996. The Robinson's store was closed in 1993[2] and sold to Bullock's,[3] becoming Macy's in 1996 as well. Following the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Saks Fifth Avenue used the opportunity to close their underperforming store[4] and it was demolished in 1994 for the addition of the AMC Theatre, which opened in 1996.[5][6]

The 34-acre retail development was originally conceived and developed by Kaiser Aetna as part of their master commercial-retail-residential development plan for their section of the massive former Warner Ranch now known as the Warner Center.[7] Coldwell Banker was the property manager and Ernest W. Hahn, Inc., was the general contractor. A few months before the first store opened, Kaiser Aetna sold their interest in the mall to Continental Illinois Properties for an estimated $15 million.[8] In March 1973, Robinson's was the first anchor store to open.[9] Both Saks[10] and Bullock's Wilshire[11] followed by opening five months later.

In 1989, the center was acquired by the O'Connor Group from Pan American Properties.[12][13]

The center was briefly acquired by Simon Property Group in 1997, before being sold in 1998 to Westfield America, Inc., a precursor to The Westfield Group.[14] At that time it was renamed "Westfield Shoppingtown Promenade". The unwieldy "Shoppingtown" name was dropped in June 2005.[15]

Westfield Promenade was plagued for years by tenant problems and slow business, although the addition of the movie theatre during renovations after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, more recent renovations in 2001[16] and the addition of several new retailers and restaurants briefly reignited interest in the center. However, a redevelopment of the Westfield Topanga in the mid-2000s overshadowed the Promenade, leaving the interior mall languishing and causing several anchor tenants such as Barnes & Noble Booksellers[17] and Dick's Sporting Goods to leave. In 2015, Macy's shuttered their two Promenade stores.[18]

By September 2015, Westfield had purchased the properties that it did not own within the mall area, usually owned by anchors, to enable the company to resell the property as an entire package for other uses. The company also had removed information about the mall from the Westfield website and had stripped the Westfield name from all of the signs at the mall. Although Westfield still owned the property as of January 2016, the property is essentially a dead mall. Current tenants have filed a lawsuit against Westfield for allowing the property to deteriorate.[19] According to a July 2016 Los Angeles Daily News article, Westfield told their tenants that they plan to close the interior of the mall "soon". Vacancy rates were estimated to be over 80%. It was also reported that Westfield officials told a Woodland Hills neighborhood council that Westfield was considering replacing the mall with upscale apartments.[1] The Los Angeles Times called the decaying retail property "a drag on the neighborhood" while a Los Angeles City Councilman called it a "blighted site".[20] In March 2016, a video was posted on YouTube which showed the state of the interior of the mall during the daytime with the mostly vacant interior shops, the lack of people within the sunny interior corridors, and a few customers within the restaurants located on the mall exteriors.[21]

In October 2016, Westfield officially announced that they will replace the mall with a mixed-use residential and retail development that includes 1,400 upscale housing units, a grocery/pharmacy, a hotel, an office complex, plus an entertainment and sports center. The housing units would range from studio units to luxury villas.[20] The name of the new development will be Promenade 2035. Current plans is to have new development open in stages, starting in 2020 and continuing on until 2035. Exterior tenants, such as the AMC Promenade 16, are going to be gradually moved over to The Village while the interior of the mall is being demolished.[22][23][24]

Square footage

AMC Theatres Promenade 16

The Promenade currently features the following businesses, amongst others:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Bartholomew, Dana (July 31, 2016). "The Promenade faces bleak future as more tenants abandon struggling mall". Los Angeles Daily News.
  2. ↑ Woodyard, Chris (October 17, 1992). "Robinson's & May Co. Combine : 12 Southland Store Closures Cast Pall Over Area's Malls : Retailing: Operators have seen their revenues slump as they struggle with recession.". Los Angeles Times.
  3. ↑ Reza, H.G. (January 11, 1994). "Promenade Hoping for Turn Around in '94 : Woodland Hills: The mall's focus is on specialty stores that cater to high-end shoppers. Three restaurants are planned.". Los Angeles Times.
  4. ↑ Apodaca, Patrice (January 27, 1994). "Earthquake / The Long Road Back : Slow Days for Mauled Mall : Northridge Center, Badly Damaged in Quake, to Partly Reopen in 6 Months". Los Angeles Times.
  5. ↑ Manning, Frank (March 8, 1996). "Woodland Hills : 16-Screen Theater to Replace Saks Store". Los Angeles Times.
  6. ↑ Fowler, James E. (March 29, 1996). "It's Show Time : Complex Opening Today Brings Art Films, High-Tech Venue to Valley Moviegoers". Los Angeles Times.
  7. ↑ Turpin, Dick (June 18, 1972). "Valley Shopping Complex Rising: Three Major High Fashion Stores Slated". Los Angeles Times. p. l1. (subscription required (help)). Alternate Link via ProQuest.
  8. ↑ "Trust Acquires Promenade Shopping Mall". Los Angeles Times. October 22, 1972. p. d22. (subscription required (help)). Alternate Link via ProQuest.
  9. ↑ "Robinson's to Open Woodland Hills Store". Los Angeles Times. March 11, 1973. p. l10. (subscription required (help)). Alternate Link via ProQuest.
  10. ↑ "Saks Opens $2.5 Million Valley Store". Los Angeles Times. August 5, 1973. p. e18. (subscription required (help)). Alternate Link via ProQuest.
  11. ↑ "San Fernando Valley Center in Operation". Los Angeles Times. August 26, 1973. p. e17. (subscription required (help)). Alternate Link via ProQuest.
  12. ↑ "Promenade Mall in Woodland Hills Sold". Los Angeles Times. December 13, 1989.
  13. ↑ Apodaca, Patrice (October 22, 1991). "Mall Raises the Roof : Retailing: The new owners of the Promenade in Warner Center pin their hopes on a renovation to woo back shoppers. Some observers see risks.". Los Angeles Times.
  14. ↑ Pendleton, Jennifer (March 9, 1999). "Owners Shopping for Ways to Revive Mall: Retail: Promenade in Woodland Hills is target of make-over by Westfield America, which wants to link it more closely with Topanga Plaza.". Los Angeles Times.
  15. ↑ Albright, Mark (June 1, 2005). "If you didn't call them 'shoppingtowns,' don't: Three local malls that called themselves by the Australian name will quietly drop the label.". Tampa Bay Times.
  16. ↑ Sieroty, Chris (May 13, 2000). "Owner to refit Promenade". Daily News of Los Angeles – via NewsBank. (subscription required (help)). The remodeled mall will feature the AMC 16 theaters along with such lifestyle stores as Restoration Hardware and Z Gallerie.
  17. ↑ Wilcox, Gregory J. (December 31, 2012). "Barnes & Noble at Westfield Promenade in Warner Center closes". Los Angeles Daily News.
  18. ↑ Wilcox, Gregory J. (January 8, 2015). "Macy's closing two Woodland Hills stores". Los Angeles Daily News.
  19. ↑ Bartholomew, Dana (September 13, 2015). "Lawsuit: Promenade mall a blighted 'ghost town' as Village at Westfield Topanga opens next door". Los Angeles Daily News.
  20. 1 2 Khouri, Andrew (October 17, 2016). "Westfield proposes $1.5-billion mixed-used complex at site of aging Warner Center mall". Los Angeles Times.
  21. ↑ Dead Mall: Westfield Promenade. YouTube. March 4, 2016.
  22. ↑ Tinoco, Matt (October 15, 2016). "Woodland Hills' Deteriorating Promenade Mall To Transform Into New Housing And Retail". LAist.
  23. ↑ Chiland, Elijah (October 13, 2016). "Massive development planned for Warner Center's Promenade mall: More than 1,400 residential units and two hotels". Curbed LA.
  24. ↑ Bartholomew, Dana (October 15, 2016). "Westfield unveils plan to turn The Promenade into $1.5B 'live, work and play' complex". Los Angeles Daily News.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.