Westfield Southcenter
 The glass façade of the atrium entrance towers 90 feet (27 m) above the ground. | |
 | |
| Location | Tukwila, Washington, USA |
|---|---|
| Opening date | July 31, 1968 |
| Developer | Allied Stores |
| Management | The Westfield Group |
| Owner | The Westfield Group |
| No. of stores and services | 218 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 4 |
| Total retail floor area | ~1,700,000 sq ft. |
| No. of floors | 1-3 |
| Parking | 7,143 |
| Website | http://westfield.com/southcenter |
Westfield Southcenter, formerly known as Southcenter Mall, is a shopping mall located in Tukwila, Washington, USA. It is currently anchored by JC Penney, Macy's, Nordstrom, and Sears and owned by The Westfield Group. A Rainforest Cafe is also at the mall.
Before Westfield
Opened July 31 1968, and developed by Allied Stores, Southcenter Mall was anchored by Allied's The Bon Marché, Frederick & Nelson, JCPenney and Nordstrom Best. The original marketing campaign in the late '60s and early '70s featured a very young, relatively unknown KIRO "assistant" anchor, Sandy Hill (who later co-hosted Good Morning America). In fact, KIRO partnered with Southcenter in the '70s, occasionally broadcasting the noon news from a set near the Bon Marché. The advertising jingle focused on "one hundred stores and all that room...Southcenter...it's always a beautiful day!". It attempted to lure people in out of the proverbial continual rain in the Seattle area. In 1985, the mall was acquired by Jacobs, Visconsi and Jacobs Co. of Cleveland, Ohio.
Over the years, the anchor stores changed. Nordstrom truncated its name in 1973, and a Mervyn's store was added as a fifth anchor in 1984. Frederick & Nelson went bankrupt and sold its store to Sears in 1992.
Acquisition by Westfield
In early 2002, the mall was purchased by The Westfield Group.[1] At that time it was renamed "Westfield Shoppingtown Southcenter". In June 2005, "Shoppingtown" was dropped from the name. Westfield acquired full ownership of the property when it acquired the underlying leasehold in 2006.
The Bon Marché was renamed Bon-Macy's in 2003 and eventually Macy's in 2005, as part of a rebranding effort by its owner, Federated Department Stores. At the end of 2006, Mervyn's closed all of its stores in Washington and Oregon, including its Southcenter store. Westfield acquired the location and has not announced any plans for the sight.
South expansion
On May, 11, 2006, Westfield broke ground on a $240 million expansion[2] that was to add 400,000 square feet (37,000 m2) and two parking garages. The first garage (named Olympic Garage, after the Olympic Mountains) was opened on November 22, 2006, in time for the Black Friday shopping rush. In January, 2007, the food court tenants began to move out in preparation for the demolition of the existing food court area. The old food court finally closed on January 28 2007, and was demolished in the following months.
On June 15, 2007, the second parking garage, (named Cascade Garage, after the Cascade Mountains) was opened. Construction continued for the next 13 months, completing in July 2008. The redevelopment added approximately 75 specialty stores, a new atrium and dining terrace with views of Mount Rainier, five new sit-down restaurants, and an AMC Theatres multiplex on top of the center. The AMC Theaters opened on July 18, showing The Dark Knight, as well as Space Chimps and Mamma Mia!. A week later, on July 25, the remainder of the expansion opened, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring a speech by Governor Christine Gregoire.
Anchors