Great Mall of the Bay Area

Great Mall of the Bay Area

Directory sign in 2012
Location	Milpitas, California, United States
Opened	September 22, 1994 (September 22, 1994)
Developer	Ford Motor Land Development and Petrie Dierman Kughn
Management	Simon Property Group
Owner	Simon Property Group
Stores	196
Anchor tenants	9
Floor area	1,366,123 square feet (126,917.0 m2)
Floors	1
Public transit	Great Mall Milpitas
Website	https://www.simon.com/mall/great-mall

The Great Mall of the Bay Area (often simply called The Great Mall or just Great Mall) is a large indoor outlet shopping mall in Milpitas, California built by Ford Motor Land Development and Petrie Dierman Kughn in 1994. It was acquired by The Mills Corporation in 2003, and by the Simon Property Group in April 2007. The mall contains approximately 1.4 million square feet of gross leaseable area. The anchor stores are Century Theatres, Kohl's, Dick's Sporting Goods, Home Interiors Furniture, Q, Saks Off 5th, Marshalls, Burlington, Dave & Buster's and the Legoland Discovery Center. The mall formerly had a Neiman Marcus Last Call outlet.

History

Development and Opening

The Mall was formerly the Ford Motor Company’s San Jose Assembly Plant that was built in 1955. The plant closed down in 1983 in part due to increasing competition with Japanese auto manufacturers.

Great Mall of the Bay Area, which had opened on September 22, 1994, was developed between a joint venture of Ford Motor Land Development Corporation of Dearborn, Michigan and Petrie Dierman Kughn of McLean, Virginia.

When the mall first opened, it featured five entrances with themes of modes of transportation that matched with the courts within. The Great Autos court was themed after automobiles and was filled with 1950's car themes such as vintage gas pumps and Coca-Cola machines with a 1957 Ford Skyliner that sat on a rotating platform as the center piece. The other courts were "Great Railroads," "Great Ships," "Great Planes," and "Great Eats", each having their own unique environments. At the time of the mall's opening in 1994, the mall was 68% leased.

Today, an oak tree with a plaque commemorating Great Mall's history stands in the southwest section of its parking lot.

2010s

In 2016, it was announced that the mall would be undergoing renovation in the spring. The renovation was completed in time for the 2016 Holiday season.

In May 2016, Sports Authority announced it would close its location due to its Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. However, its vacancy would be short lived as Dick’s Sporting Goods would open up in Sports Authority’s vacancy. It would open in June 2017.

Location

The Great Mall of the Bay Area sits at the intersection of Great Mall Parkway (which becomes Capitol Avenue when it crosses Montague Expressway) and Montague Expressway. The Parc Metropolitan apartments lie to the north of the mall. A few inns are also located at the south entrance of the mall.

Layout

Great Mall, unlike many other malls (but like most Mills malls), is a "flat" mall with only one story and an oval racetrack layout with six neighborhoods. The mall is currently laid out in this fashion because the existing main structure was a Ford automobile assembly plant and was not designed to serve as a shopping center.

Based on gross leasable area, the Great Mall of the Bay Area is the largest outlet mall and the 8th largest mall in California. It was once the largest mall in Northern California, but has now been surpassed by others. Like other malls, Great Mall also has a food court, which can be accessed through Entrance 4.

Public transit

Main article: Great Mall station

Main article: Milpitas station

The Great Mall of the Bay Area is close to the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority's Great Mall station. Many VTA bus routes and also one by AC Transit stop at this transit center. The light rail station is elevated in the median of Great Mall Parkway. Bay Area Rapid Transit opened service to Milpitas station on June 13, 2020, providing access to the Great Mall and connections with VTA and AC Transit.