Del Amo Fashion Center

Del Amo Fashion Center

Sign over Carson Street
Location	Torrance, California, United States
Opening date	1961
Developer	Guilford Glazer
Management	Simon Property Group
Owner	JPMorgan Fleming Funds (25%), Simon Property Group (50%), & Farallon Cap. Mgt. (25%)
No. of stores and services	250 (as of 2018)
No. of anchor tenants	6
Total retail floor area	2,600,000 sq ft (240,000 m2)
No. of floors	3
Parking	12,000
Website	Delamofashioncenter.com

Del Amo Fashion Center is a three-level regional luxury shopping mall in Torrance, California, United States. It is currently managed and co-owned by Simon Property Group.

With a gross leasable area (GLA) of 2.6 million ft², it is one of the largest shopping malls in the United States. The mall features a food court, several anchor stores, including two Macy's locations, Nordstrom, JCPenney and Sears, more than 200 retailers, multiple full-service restaurants, a fitness center, and an AMC Theatres multiplex.

In 2013, plans were introduced by Simon Property Group for a 200 million dollar complete overhaul of the north side of the mall. A new food court opened in the Fall of 2013, while the newly redesigned "Fashion Wing" on the north side officially debuted in October 2015 with Nordstrom being the new mall anchor.

History

Del Amo Fashion Center has evolved from an amalgamation of several developments on the eastern side of the intersection of Hawthorne Boulevard and Carson Street in Torrance, California by Guilford Glazer (#384 on Forbes Richest 400).^[1] From 1981 to 1992 it was the largest shopping mall in the US, reaching 3 million ft² (280,000 m²) in size at its largest. It was eclipsed as the largest with the opening of Mall of America on August 11, 1992.

In 1959, The Broadway opened the first store at what was then the open-air Del Amo Shopping Center south of Carson Street.^[2] The actual mall itself, as well as J.C. Penney and Sears, opened in 1961 at the southeast corner of Sepulveda Boulevard and Hawthorne Boulevard. In 1966, Bullock's opened at a small open-air shopping center it had developed north of Carson Street called Fashion Square (Bullock's developed several similarly named Fashion Squares, including ones in Sherman Oaks, La Habra and Santa Ana). I. Magnin, an affiliate of Bullock's opened a store in 1967 at Fashion Square, before the center was acquired in 1971 by Guilford Glazer and a major redevelopment begun.

Overview after the merger of the Del Amo Fashion Square (north) and the Del Amo Center (south).

In 1971, Del Amo Fashion Square, as the center on the north side of Carson Street was now called, reopened as a second mall and included additional anchors Montgomery Ward and Ohrbach's as well as an expanded I. Magnin. Glazer acquired neighboring Del Amo Center in 1978.

In November 1981 ^[3] the two formerly separate centers were officially merged in the "marriage of the malls"^[4] to form the Del Amo Fashion Center, with the opening of a concourse over Carson Street that linked the Del Amo Fashion Square to a new J. W. Robinson's built at the northern end of the Del Amo Center. The existing infrastructure was also renovated at this time and included a food court (the "International Food Court") and a then-state-of-the-art computerized help system. Del Amo became the largest indoor shopping center in the world.

The center continued to evolve over the years as Ohrbach's closed in 1987 and became Swedish style furniture retailer STØR. When STØR went out of business in the early nineties, the property was used as a clearance center for STØR merchandise before being subdivided into Marshall's and TJ Maxx.^[5] I. Magnin followed in 1989 with part of their store eventually occupied by Old Navy, while Burlington Coat Factory opened in the basement of the former Del Amo Center. J. W. Robinson's became Robinsons-May in 1993.

In 1996, following the merger of Bullocks and The Broadway into Macy's, the former Bullock's became Macy's Apparel store, while the Macy’s south store (where the Broadway resided) was closed. At first, the company attempted to sell the building to Bloomingdale's, but after three years reopened it in July 1999 as a Macy's home and furniture gallery, its largest stand-alone home furnishing store in Southern California. The 50,000 square foot ground floor became a Jo-Ann’s fabric and crafts store.^[2]

Faced with a change in consumer shopping patterns, the consolidation of the department store industry, the existence of too many malls fragmenting the greater Los Angeles retail marketplace, lack of highway access and competition from the neighboring Nordstrom-anchored South Bay Galleria that opened in 1985, Del Amo began to suffer. Montgomery Ward dealt another blow when it closed following the chain's bankruptcy and failed to become Target. This resulted in the closure of an entire wing of the mall.

Mills renovation

In 2003, The Mills Corporation acquired Del Amo Fashion Center from the Guilford Glazer Family for $420 million (USD).^[6] Subsequently, Mills sold a half-interest in the property to institutional investor funds managed by JPMorgan Fleming,^[7] before initiating a $160 million redevelopment including demolition and redevelopment the former northeast wing where Montgomery Ward had been located, the renovation of 670,000 ft² (62,000 m²) of existing space and the addition of another 100,000 ft² (9,300 m²). Robinsons-May converted to a second full-line Macy's on September 9, 2006.

Lifestyle Court

The new open-air lifestyle center opened on September 14, 2006, bringing new specialty stores, dining, entertainment, a Lucky Strike Lanes (now occupied by Old Navy), and an AMC Theatres 18-screen multiplex to the mall. Crate & Barrel opened a home furnishings store along the mall perimeter in spring 2007, replacing an International House of Pancakes restaurant and a Sushi Boy store that were both torn down.

In 2007, The Mills Corporation was jointly acquired by Simon Property Group and Farallon Capital Management. Simon assumed management of Del Amo Fashion Center at this time. In April 2008, the mall's website was placed under the Simon.com format along with sister Simon/Mills malls, like Ontario Mills, Hilltop Mall, the Block at Orange and Great Mall.

Simon expansion

After increasing its ownership stake in the property, Simon presented preliminary plans to revamp Del Amo. The plans were considered vague and underwhelming by Torrance residents.^{[8][9][10][9]}

In late 2012, detailed plans to redevelop Del Amo on a much larger scale were unveiled. The mall's north end would be demolished entirely, replaced by a new two-level wing of luxury shops.^[11] In conjunction with the renovation, Nordstrom announced it would relocate its store from the South Bay Galleria in nearby Redondo Beach, California to Del Amo, anchoring the new wing.^[12]

The first phase of the project, redeveloping the wing of shops above Carson Street into a new food court, began in 2013. Work was completed in the spring of the following year, as retailers began vacating the north wing to make way for the renovation.^[13]

Plans to consolidate the mall's three Macy's stores into two were confirmed in 2014, with Macy's consolidating its standalone Macy's Home store into the existing Macy's Men's store. Simon then traded ownership of the Macy's Men's building for the Macy's Home building.^[14] Dick's Sporting Goods moved into the former Macy's Home space in early 2017.^[15]

Interior of the Fashion Wing at the Del Amo Fashion Center, looking south from Nordstrom.

After 18 months of construction, the northern portion of the mall officially opened on October 9, 2015.^[16] A medical building on the north end of the property and the existing one-story northern section were replaced with a two-story Fashion Wing, featuring a brighter and open "beach elegance" aesthetic to bring in more natural light and a mid-century modern look.^[17] The wing featured a mix of new-to-market retailers and holdovers from the former north end, including luxury retailers BOSS Hugo Boss, Kate Spade New York, Tumi, and Brooks Brothers; and flagship stores for Uniqlo, H&M, Express, Zara, and Victoria's Secret.^[18]

Several new and relocated restaurants fronted the new wing: local chains EMC Seafood & Raw Bar, Lemonade, and FRIDA; Din Tai Fung, a prototype Brio Tuscan Grille, and a relocated Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que^[19][20]

The south end of the property experienced minor renovations in line with the more elaborate north end changes, including signs delineating the wing "Del Amo Shopping Center" with a focus on general-purpose retail. In 2018, renovation plans were completed to replace a significant portion of the south end's inline retail space with a Dave & Buster's and a relocated Marshalls store.^[21] Outback Steakhouse, which was displaced by construction on the south end, reopened in the Outdoor Village on July 7, 2018.

An updated Del Amo Fashion Center sign

In film

The Del Amo was a central location and plot element of the Quentin Tarantino film Jackie Brown. In addition the mall was prominently featured in Martha Coolidge's Valley Girl, used as the mall backdrop for Bad Santa and used for scenes in the comedy film Why Him?.

The Barnes and Noble located in the northwest parking lot of the mall was the location used for the chain‘s 2012 Holiday TV ad.

See also

• List of largest shopping malls in the world
• List of largest shopping malls in the United States

References

External links

• Del Amo Fashion Center

Coordinates: 33°49′41″N 118°20′59″W / 33.828072°N 118.349796°W / 33.828072; -118.349796