Tysons Galleria

Tysons Galleria
The Tysons Galleria area from the air.
Location 2001 International Drive, Tysons, Virginia, United States
Opening date 1988
Developer Lerner Enterprises and Homart Development Company
Owner Brookfield Properties Retail Group
No. of stores and services 120+
No. of anchor tenants 3
Total retail floor area 800,000 sq ft (74,000 m2)
No. of floors 3
Public transit access Washington Metro:
at Tysons Corner
Metrobus: 28A
Fairfax Connector bus: 401, 402, 423, 462, 463, 721
Website http://www.tysonsgalleria.com/

Tysons Galleria is a three-level super-regional mall owned by Brookfield Properties Retail Group located at 2001 International Drive in Tysons, Virginia. It is the second-largest mall in Tysons, and one of the largest in the Washington metropolitan area.

History

Tysons Galleria was the third major project of the Gudelsky-Lerner partnership. The property was purchased from The Rouse Company which lost a bitter zoning dispute over the site in 1963.[1] In 1981, Lerner bought out the partnership for $21 million, before embarking on a $550 million expansion.[2] The mall opened with high-end department stores Neiman Marcus and Saks 5th Avenue in 1988 across Virginia State Route 123 from Tysons Corner Center. The mall is a part of the $500 million ($1 billion in 2014 dollars) office development The Corporate Office Centre at Tysons II, leading regional residents to refer to Tysons Galleria as "Tysons II",[3] and the older Tysons Corner Center retroactively as "Tysons I". It was previously known as the Galleria at Tysons II.[4] It had annual sales of $262 per square foot, below the market average for malls in the Washington metropolitan area in the early 1990s.[5]

The Galleria was renovated to appear more like a "European streetscape" and expanded in 1997 by Homart Development Company, who had its name changed to Tysons Galleria. Its interior was lightly remodeled to appear less like a "space walk".[4]

The mall eventually attracted the high-end tenants that it had hoped for. National Geographic stated in its December 2002 issue that "Tysons Galleria is the Rodeo Drive of the East Coast."[6] The Washington Post describes it as a "bright and elegant Fifth Avenue-like mall".[7] Tysons Galleria was rated one of the top 15 sales-producing shopping centers in terms of dollars per square foot by WWD in 2003.[6]

Layout and tenants

Interior of Tysons Galleria

Tysons Galleria features valet parking and concierge services, including having large purchases delivered and organized into customers' closets.[4] The mall has given consistently big-spending customers reserved parking spaces.[4] The Galleria also has foreign currency exchanges, day spas, security escorts, and taxi services. An adjacent Ritz-Carlton hotel is accessible from inside the mall, much like in the nearby Fashion Centre at Pentagon City in Arlington. The hotel attracts wealthy visitors from Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East, who in turn help fuel sales of the mall's high-end goods.[4]

FAO Schwarz operated a three-level store that closed in 2001. The mall also had one of the original locations of Tiffany & Co.'s Iridesse.

Several designers, including Bottega Veneta, Chanel, David Yurman, De Beers, Elie Tahari, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tory Burch, and Versace, have their only statewide and Baltimore-Washington area boutiques in Tysons Galleria. Similarly, some high-end watch makers, including Breguet and Girard-Perregaux, have their only regional point of sale in Tysons Galleria.

The Macy's at Tysons Galleria is across the street from the Macy's in neighboring Tysons Corner Center (which was originally a Hecht's).[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "H. Max Ammerman Dies; Development Suburban Malls". The Washington Post. 1 November 1988.
  2. ↑ "Wheaton Plaza Partners Sue Developer Theodore Lerner: Wheaton Plaza Shopping Mall Partners Sue Developer Theodore Lerner for $30 Million". The Washington Post. 7 June 1995.
  3. ↑ Downey, K. (1988) "Tysons Center Gathers Reinforcements for Battle With Galleria" The Washington Post
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Pressler, M. (1995) "The Galleria: Upscale and Onward; Owner of Former Tysons II Has Renewed Determination To Make It an Exclusive Mall" The Washington Post
  5. ↑ Pressler, M. (1996) "Renovation at Tysons Galleria Slows as Owners Assess Options" The Washington Post
  6. 1 2 Tysons Galleria Archived 2009-03-20 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ Tysons Galleria in McLean, VA
  8. ↑ Katie Wilmeth (September 6, 2006). "Tysons doubles up on Macy's". Washington Examiner. Retrieved April 20, 2011.

Coordinates: 38°55′26″N 77°13′30″W / 38.92391°N 77.22505°W / 38.92391; -77.22505

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