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Metro center
USINFO | 2013-05-23 12:52
Metrocenter is a super-regional shopping mall in northwest Phoenix, Arizona. It is bounded roughly by Interstate 17, 35th, Dunlap and Peoria Avenues. Its anchor stores include Macy's, Dillard's clearance center, and Sears, with two vacant anchors last occupied by Macy's (which moved from its first location to its current location, a former Robinsons-May, in 2006) and JCPenney. The mall features more than 100 stores, a 12 screen movie theater, and a food court, and since January 2012, has been owned by the Carlyle Development Group based in New York City.
Metrocenter was a joint venture of Westcor, a regional shopping center development firm headed by a group of real estate investors and developers led by Russ "Rusty" Lyon, Jr., and Homart Development Company, the real estate division of Sears, Roebuck and Company.
The project was announced in November 1970, the first site plans and artist renderings announced in the spring of 1972, and construction beginning in June 1972. The mall was opened for business in October 1973, and when it opened as the first two-level, five-anchor mall in the U.S., it was the largest shopping center in Arizona and was considered one of the largest shopping centers in the United States.
The original anchor stores were Sears, Rhodes Brothers, Diamond's, Goldwater's, and The Broadway. All of the anchors opened in 1973, save for Sears which opened in 1974. The mall had an ice skating rink and a bar in the fuselage of a 747 airliner.
Macy's, Sears, Dillard's Clearance Center, a 12-screen Harkins Theater, and Sports Chalet.
Over time, the mall's anchors have changed as a result of acquisitions and consolidation amongst department stores. Rhodes Brothers was converted to Liberty House, then to Joske's. After Joske's was acquired by Dillard's, the location became a second Dillard's, and then a JCPenney. JCPenney moved to Christown Spectrum Mall in 2007 and is currently vacant. The Broadway was converted to Macy's in 1996 when the Broadway chain was acquired. Goldwater's was converted to J.W. Robinson's, which became Robinsons-May in 1993.
After Robinsons-May's parent company was acquired by Macy's, Macy's moved from the former Broadway to the Robinsons-May building, leaving the former Broadway vacant.
A 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m2) Sports Chalet store was signed in August 2006 to replace the vacant Van's Skatepark on the second floor of the mall near Sears.
Metrocenter was a joint venture of Westcor, a regional shopping center development firm headed by a group of real estate investors and developers led by Russ "Rusty" Lyon, Jr., and Homart Development Company, the real estate division of Sears, Roebuck and Company.
The project was announced in November 1970, the first site plans and artist renderings announced in the spring of 1972, and construction beginning in June 1972. The mall was opened for business in October 1973, and when it opened as the first two-level, five-anchor mall in the U.S., it was the largest shopping center in Arizona and was considered one of the largest shopping centers in the United States.
The original anchor stores were Sears, Rhodes Brothers, Diamond's, Goldwater's, and The Broadway. All of the anchors opened in 1973, save for Sears which opened in 1974. The mall had an ice skating rink and a bar in the fuselage of a 747 airliner.
Macy's, Sears, Dillard's Clearance Center, a 12-screen Harkins Theater, and Sports Chalet.
Over time, the mall's anchors have changed as a result of acquisitions and consolidation amongst department stores. Rhodes Brothers was converted to Liberty House, then to Joske's. After Joske's was acquired by Dillard's, the location became a second Dillard's, and then a JCPenney. JCPenney moved to Christown Spectrum Mall in 2007 and is currently vacant. The Broadway was converted to Macy's in 1996 when the Broadway chain was acquired. Goldwater's was converted to J.W. Robinson's, which became Robinsons-May in 1993.
After Robinsons-May's parent company was acquired by Macy's, Macy's moved from the former Broadway to the Robinsons-May building, leaving the former Broadway vacant.
A 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m2) Sports Chalet store was signed in August 2006 to replace the vacant Van's Skatepark on the second floor of the mall near Sears.
