Westfield Mission Valley

Westfield Mission Valley
Location San Diego, California
Address 1640 Camino Del Rio North, San Diego, CA 92108-1506
Opening date February 20, 1961
Developer May Centers, Inc.
Management Westfield Group
Owner Westfield Group
Architect Deems, Lewis, Martin & Associates
No. of stores and services 100
No. of anchor tenants 8 (6 open, 2 closed)
Total retail floor area 1,139,602 sq ft (105,872.5 m2)[1]
No. of floors 1
Parking 7,181
Public transit access Mission Valley Center
Website westfield.com/missionvalley

Westfield Mission Valley, formerly Mission Valley Center, is a shopping mall in Mission Valley area of San Diego, California, owned by The Westfield Group. Its anchor stores are Michaels, Bed Bath and Beyond, Macy's Home & Furniture Store, Nordstrom Rack, Bloomingdale's Outlet Store and Target. There is also an AMC Theatres multiplex.

History

In early 1958, May Centers proposed rezoning 90 acres (360,000 m2) in the then sparsely-populated Mission Valley area of San Diego to build a shopping mall.[2] In June 1958, the San Diego City Council unanimously voted in favor of rezoning the 90 acres (360,000 m2) for the May plan.

Center Courtyard at Mission Valley Center
Center Courtyard at Mission Valley Center, 1961

By 1959, the mall was under construction, and completed in late 1960, with a grand opening on February 20, 1961. Designed by the San Diego-based architectural firm Deems-Lewis, the mall contained two large anchor spaces, occupied by Montgomery Ward, and May Company, 70 inline stores, as well as a large central courtyard. Due to its location in the floodplain of the San Diego River, the mall was designed with the stores on the level above the parking garage. Presumably, in the event of a flood, only the parking garage would be flooded, with the retail level untouched. It was San Diego's second mall, following the opening of the College Grove Center in 1960.

The mall underwent its first expansion in 1975, with the completion of a new 3-story Bullock's, and 11 new stores. Eight years later, in 1983, the mall underwent a significant remodel, with a new Northeast wing built, which also added a two-story Saks Fifth Avenue.

In 1994, Westfield Group acquired the mall. Along with this acquisition, another major renovation of the mall was undertaken, with a new AMC Theatres 20-screen multiplex built atop the south parking lot. The renovation project also retrofitted several new stores in existing space in the northeast wing, including Michaels, Nordstrom Rack, Loehmann's, and Bed Bath & Beyond. Additionally, a large center courtyard, originally constructed as a children's playground, was covered over to provide space for a Ruby's Diner. Around this time, Macy's acquired the Bullock's chain of department stores, which led to a rebranding of the Bullock's as a Macy's. Borders Books & Music, Marshalls, DSW, The Good Guys, and Old Navy added in 1995 also. The Good Guys closed in 2005, and it replaced by Golfsmith a year later. Borders Books & Music converted into Giant Book Sale until 2012. Trader Joe's and Ulta Beauty opened up in the former Borders Books & Music in 2013. Golfsmith converted into a Golf Galaxy in 2017 also.

In 2001, one of the malls original tenants, Montgomery Ward, was shuttered when the chain went bankrupt. A year later, Target opened in the former Ward's space. In 2006, Macy's completed its acquisition of May Company, and the former Robinsons-May space was subsequently rebranded as a Macy's. In 2017 Macy's revealed that they were closing 68 stores including Macy's Westfield Mission Valley.

Future plans

In August 2008, Westfield Group filed an application for a major renovation to the Westfield Mission Valley shopping center. The project envisions a 500,000 sq ft (46,000 m2) expansion of retail space for stores, 50,000 sq ft (4,600 m2) of commercial space, adjacent condominiums and parking. Real estate industry experts expect the project to be long-term, and development to last five to ten years. 10 years later (2018) no renovations has been done to Westfield Mission Valley Shopping Center[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Westfield Mission Valley". Westfield Group. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
  2. ↑ Roger Showley (June 22, 2008). "Deja Vu in Mission Valley". The San Diego Union-Tribune.
  3. ↑ Penni Crabtree; Roger Showley (August 6, 2008). "Westfield files plan for condos, offices in 'village'". San Diego Union-Tribune.


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