Santa Monica Place
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 Main entrance, facing Third Street Promenade, circa 2005. |
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| Location | Santa Monica, California, USA |
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| Website | Official Website |
Santa Monica Place is a shopping mall in Santa Monica, California. The mall is located at the south end of the famous Third Street Promenade, and is also two blocks from the Santa Monica Pier and the beach. It underwent a massive, 3-year renovation process beginning in January, 2008, and was re-opened on August 6, 2010.
Santa Monica Place opened in 1980 adjacent to the old Third Street Mall and was renovated in 1991 and again in 1996. For the next ten years, the mall was three-story, 570,000-square-foot (53,000 m2) complex. It featured 120 shops, including upscale brands such as Kenneth Cole and Williams-Sonoma, along with its largest store, Macy's. It is 152,000 sq ft (14,100 m2) on three levels. The mall also featured a Robinsons May department store, but this was closed due to the merger between Federated/May Co. in 2006.
Santa Monica Place was designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry early in his professional career with Gruen Associates, constructed in 1980, and renovated in 1990. It has served as a backdrop for several films and television shows, most notably the exterior of the Ridgemont Mall in Fast Times at Ridgemont High; it has also been used in Pretty in Pink as well as Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Beverly Hills, 90210, and in the video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles.
[edit] Redevelopment
Developer, The Macerich Company, purchased the mall in 1999 and in 2004 proposed tearing down the mall and replacing it with a 10-acre (40,000 m2) complex of high-rise condos, shops and offices.[1] The plan met with strong opposition from local residents who felt the project did not meet the low-rise character of the neighborhood and would worsen traffic. In a second 2007 proposal, Macerich significantly scaled back its plans, which was received as positive by the public, and was passed. The project involves removing the mall's roof, gutting out the interior, create public walkways, an indoor/outdoor dining deck, and other adaptive reuse measures. The two anchor department stores have also been converted, with Macy's rebuilt as Bloomingdale's and Robinson's-May turned into a Nordstrom. The architects who carried out the project were Dallas-based Omniplan in association with the Jerde Partnership.[2] The grand reopening occurred on August 6, 2010.
[edit] References
- ^ Martha Groves, [Hopes high for low-profile mall http://articles.latimes.com/2007/mar/05/local/me-mall5], Los Angeles Times, March 5, 2007.
- ^ Marissa Gluck, Santa Monica Place Swaps Gehry for Airy, The Architect's Newspaper, August 6, 2010.
[edit] External links
