Burbank Town Center

Burbank Town Center (formerly Media City Center) is a large shopping mall and complex that opened in August 1991 on Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank, California, United States, with three levels of interior shopping anchored by Macy's, Burlington, and Sears, and an open-air shopping plaza anchored by Office Depot.[3]

Burbank Town Center
LocationBurbank, California, U.S.
Address201 East Magnolia Boulevard
Opening dateAugust 21, 1991 (1991-08-21)[1]
DeveloperAlexander Haagen[1]
ManagementCypress Equities
OwnerCypress Equities
No. of stores and services100+
No. of anchor tenants3
Total retail floor area1,200,000 square feet (110,000 m2)[2]
No. of floors3
Old Entrance to Burbank Town Center on East Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank, California.

History

Plans for the site began as early as 1979, with developer Ernst Hahn planning a 5-anchor downtown mall, which, following financial difficulties, was scaled back to "Burbank Towncenter", which collapsed in 1987 following the withdrawal of anchor Robinsons. The Walt Disney Company was involved with plans for a large-scale shopping center on the site briefly, until 1988, when plans were dropped due to rising costs.[4] Plans were handed off by the city to European mall developer Haagen Co the following year.[4]

IKEA was the first store to open on the site, in late 1990. Drawing 146,000 people in its first six days of business, it was the first of four new IKEA stores in the area.[5] The mall had, at this time, begun construction, despite Bullock's being the only announced anchor. Four office buildings and a hotel, possibly Sheraton, were also announced at this time.[6] A $2 million, 12,500 sq ft (1,160 m2) branch of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County was announced to be built at the property in February 1991, their first satellite location, with a planned opening of Summer 1992.[7] A Buffums was also planned for the mall, before the chain's demise in early 1991.[8]

The mall opened its doors for a "sneak preview" on August 21, 1991, with 20 of a planned 130 stores open along with anchors Sears and Mervyn's, with Bullock's slated to open in August 1992, along with the rest of "Phase 1" of the property, including a mall food court and movie theater, a 300-room hotel, 1 million sq ft (93,000 m2) of office space, and the Los Angeles County museum.[9][10] The mall had reached 60% occupancy by November 1991, including the opening of a 4-screen AMC Theatres.[4][11] By June 1992, the opening of the satellite museum location had been pushed back into 1993.[12] In early August 1992, billboards reading "There's Only One Johnny Carson" and "There's Only One Jimmy Dean", among others, went up around Burbank and the surrounding area, followed with a billboard reading "There's Only One Burbank Media City Center".[13] Bullock's opened on September 2, 1992, with a grand opening celebration featuring a parade and appearances by actors from The New WKRP in Cincinnati and The Young and the Restless.[14] Macy's came to the mall in 1995, with their conversion of all Bullock's stores to the Macy's name that year.[15]

The mall was sold to Crown Realty in March 2003 for $110 million, with extensive remodeling plans announced in August that year. Designed by the Dallas architecture firm Omniplan, it included heavy use of "natural materials such as stone".[16] A name change was also discussed at this time, in order to mitigate what the owners described as a perception problem, due to slumping sales in the mall. The mall was renamed to its current name, Burbank Town Center, in late 2004.[17] Mervyn's closed in 2008, with the closure of the rest of the chain.[18]

Burlington Coat Factory opened in 2010, in the former Mervyns space. Announced at the same time was Ashley HomeStore, which filled an outlying anchor space vacated by Circuit City in 2008.[19] IKEA closed on February 4, 2017, shortly before the opening of a new, larger IKEA store on February 8.[20] A $350 million plan to redevelop the former IKEA into smaller retail spaces, hotel rooms, and apartments was announced in January 2018, alongside $60 million of renovations to the mall itself, with plans to be completed by 2020.[21]

References
  1. Greg Braxton (August 22, 1991). "Burbank gets its mall". The Los Angeles Times. pp. B3, B8. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
  2. "Burbank Town Center". Cypress Equities. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
  3. "Burbank Town Center Directory". Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  4. Braxton, Greg (December 2, 1991). "MALL: Economy Poses an Added Burden". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  5. Mitchell, John (January 3, 1991). "IKEA: Crenshaw Loses Chance at Giant Store". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  6. Peltz, James (November 20, 1990). "Mall May Give Burbank Some Respect". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  7. Kaplan, Tracey (February 21, 1991). "History Museum to Branch Out in Burbank". Valley News. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  8. Braxton, Greg (December 2, 1991). "New Mall's Prospects Up in Air". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  9. Braxton, Greg (August 22, 1991). "MALL: Burbank Previews Shopping Complex". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  10. Braxton, Greg (August 22, 1991). "Burbank Gets Its Mall". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  11. "Theaters: Now Open or Coming Soon". The Los Angeles Times. December 4, 1991. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  12. "Media City Shopping Center Presents Mamenchisaurus: Mystery Of The Mesozoic". The Los Angeles Times. June 5, 1992. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  13. Reilly, Sue (August 7, 1992). "There's Only One Ad Campaign". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  14. "Join The Celebration! Bring the Kids to the Parade. Bullock's Burbank Debuts Tomorrow!". The Los Angeles Times. September 1, 1992. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  15. White, George; Apodaca, Patrice (October 13, 1995). "All Bullock's Stores to Be Converted to Macy's". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  16. Vincent, Roger (August 27, 2003). "Burbank Mall to Undergo Upgrade". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  17. "The Name is the Smallest Change We Made". The Los Angeles Times. October 31, 2004. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  18. Oberstein, Jeremy (October 18, 2008). "Mervyns is done in California". Burbank Leader. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  19. Kisliuk, Bill (October 13, 2010). "Rack is set to open". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  20. Boone, Lisa (February 3, 2017). "Burbank opens the largest Ikea in America. Take a tour". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  21. Grigoryants, Olga (January 5, 2018). "Former IKEA site in Burbank will get new look, new retail-residential strategy". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved April 7, 2020.

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