The fight to save a dying mall
By Todd C. Frankel
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
12/07/2008
ST. ANN She had to take a photo. Too shocking not to.
Pat Sarantites had just walked down a nearly empty wing of the Northwest
Plaza mall. Eighteen vacant storefronts in a row. Window after window
covered by the black plastic veil of retail mourning. The scene gave her
chills. She wanted a photo to show others who, like her, remembered when
this place bustled as the region's premier mall. As Dionne Warwick's "Walk
On By" poured from the mall speakers, Sarantites pulled a digital camera
from her purse.
"It's desolate. It's spooky. It's like science fiction," said
Sarantites,
65, who drove from University City to shop at the Sears here a few days
before Thanksgiving. "It is unbelievable."
Northwest Plaza once was billed as the world's largest shopping center. It
is the region's largest mall. More than 1.7 million square feet. An Edward
Jones Dome worth of shopping. It opened in the mid-1960s as an outdoor mall
with gardens and sculptured water fountains. The region's only mall with
four department store anchors. It went indoors in 1989 under a massive new
canopy. Sales boomed.
But in recent years, Northwest Plaza has slipped. Once home to 210 stores,
there are now fewer than 40. One of its biggest tenants, Steve & Barry's
clothing, closed two weeks ago. And next month, another major tenant,
Dillard's, plans to shutter.
Across the nation, the golden era of the massive shopping mall seems to be
dimming. And in the St. Louis region, no mall represents that once-proud
time better than Northwest Plaza.
But this is the mall that refuses to die. Dismissed before, each time it has
turned the corner. Reborn. And the mall is trying again a reinvention
other area malls hope to follow.
But the challenges facing indoor malls are huge. The economy is faltering.
Shopping habits are changing. Outdoor "lifestyle centers" with a cityscape
feel are the trend. Or big box stores create their own miniature malls
around them.
Last year, a new indoor mall did not open anywhere in the country for the
first time in a half-century. In 2006, just one mall opened. That is a steep
drop from the mid-1990s when malls opened at a rate of 140 a year, according
to Georgia Tech professor Ellen Dunham-Jones, co-author of the new book
"Retrofitting Suburbia."
Retail analysts warn some big malls could fail, going the way of the
vanished River Roads Mall in Jennings and the silent St. Louis Centre in
downtown St. Louis. Or Northland Plaza, also in Jennings, which was torn
down and rebuilt as a neighborhood strip mall.
Some malls in St. Louis appear to be holding their own the Galleria, Plaza
Frontenac, South County Center, West County Center.
But others are plainly struggling, such as Jamestown Mall, Crestwood Court
and Northwest Plaza. These malls have suffered from changing demographics,
decades of people moving to ever-more distant suburbs. North County, home to
Northwest Plaza, has suffered especially from the flight of middle-class
families and jobs. Some malls centrally located in the 1960s and 1970s no
longer sit in the best retail spots.
"We're going to lose a bunch," said Bob Lewis of Development Strategies,
an
economic development consultant in St. Louis.
Even cities such as St. Ann, which for years depended on its big mall for
tax revenue, see the need for malls to change. St. Ann's sales tax revenue,
most of it flowing from Northwest Plaza, has plummeted by half in six years
to about $1.6 million annually. The city has cut back, trimmed staff,
stopped free trash pickup.
"It is a very depressing process," city administrator Matt Conley said,
adding, "The day of the shopping mall is going the way of the dinosaur."
Websites such as Deadmall.com and Labelscar.com chart the demise of malls
across the country. Local blogs, such as Ecology of Absence and Built St.
Louis, track some changes closer to home. Lamented one commentator on Label
Scar (the name refers to the faint image left on buildings by removed
signage), "I can well remember Northwest Plaza as the best place to shop in
St. Louis."
The new mall owners remember it, too.
Signs inside the mall allude to this vibrant history while apologizing for
the present state of affairs. "Our loyal shoppers may recall that Northwest
Plaza was once the area's most popular shopping destination," the signs
read. "We are dedicated to recapturing this wonderful shopping experience
again."
The plan to save Northwest Plaza involves a new name and an old plan.
It will be called Lindbergh Town Center, playing off nearby Lindbergh
Boulevard. And the mall again will turn outward, with individual store
entrances facing out onto the parking lots. The mall's footprint will be
slashed by 500,000 square feet. Office space will be added.
"We're taking the mall back to what it was," Conley said.
St. Ann has approved $96 million in tax incentives.
But the plan hinges on locking in Wal-Mart. The mega-retailer has announced
plans to build a new Supercenter in the space now held by Dillard's. Land
surveys were conducted this fall. A Wal-Mart located a short walk away in
Bridgeton would close. The goal is to open the new store in 2010.
Wal-Mart and a mall owner, Zelman Development, did not respond to calls for
comment. The mall's general manager declined to comment. But Conley said
city leaders believe the deal is still on track.
Other malls in the St. Louis region are drawing up plans similar to the one
for Northwest Plaza.
It is part of a national trend of finding new uses for indoor malls,
"under-performing asphalt that is getting attention for redevelopment,"
said
professor Dunham-Jones.
At Jamestown Mall in Florissant, the goal is to turn the mall into a
mixed-use center. Developers have intentionally emptied shops in one wing,
pushing them into the center. The wing, which leads to a massive Dillard's
store vacant since 2006, will be closed. The empty space will be turned into
offices, said Rick Murphy, general manager for Jones Lang LaSalle, which
manages the mall.
And while Jamestown struggles, it evokes considerably more life than
Northwest Plaza. Christmas decorations and a giant tree stand in the
hallways. Most of the storefronts are filled. The movie theater is open. Yet
the Sears there is set to close next year another anchor store gone. A
petition to save Sears sits inside the mall manager's office.
Intentions to transform Crestwood Court also are on the table. New owners
earlier this year said the mall previously known as Crestwood Plaza
would be partly torn down and turned into open-air mall with stores facing
outward. Currently the mall is pockmarked with vacant spaces, most notably a
Dillard's that closed in 2007.
Back at Northwest Plaza, Mike Bartel used a knife to pry off a boot heel at
his shoe repair shop, Heel/Sew Quick.
Now 73, Bartel has worked here almost two decades. He recalled the condition
of the mall shortly after it was enclosed. A lavish charity ball was thrown
to celebrate the new beginning. And shoppers followed.
"It was marvelous," Bartel said.
But Bartel was less certain about the mall's future. Over the years, he has
lost about a third of his business as the Ford plant and TWA workers have
disappeared along with their jobs from the North County area.
So far he has held on. But the future is not certain.
"We're coming into the holiday season," he said, "and who knows."
He dug the knife back into the boot and got back to work in a nearly empty
mall.
Well, there you have it folks, we can no longer count on the Crestwood Courts to save us, so what now?
Tom Ford
NO. 575
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