Century Plaza

Century Plaza

Location	Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Coordinates	33°31′58″N 86°43′27″W / 33.53278°N 86.72417°WCoordinates: 33°31′58″N 86°43′27″W / 33.53278°N 86.72417°W
Opening date	1975
Closing date	May 31, 2009
Management	General Growth Properties
Owner	Howard Hughes Corporation
No. of anchor tenants	4
Total retail floor area	750,000 square feet (70,000 m^2) (GLA)[1]
No. of floors	2

Century Plaza was an enclosed shopping mall in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Opened in 1975, the mall originally included four anchor stores and more than one hundred tenants, but lost three of those anchors (JCPenney, Belk and Rich's-Macy's) in the mid-2000s. In May 2009, the mall was completely closed as Sears and the rest of the stores in the mall closed. The mall was managed by General Growth Properties of Chicago, Illinois at the time of its closure. It is now owned by the Howard Hughes Corporation. On January 3, 2012 they made the proposal that the mall should be turned into a jail and court facility.

History

Century Plaza opened in 1975 on the eastern side of Birmingham, Alabama, on U. S. Route 78 (Crestwood Blvd.) near Interstate 20, across from the existing Eastwood Mall. The mall's original anchor stores included Sears (which opened in 1974), Rich's, Loveman's of Alabama and JCPenney. Loveman's later was replaced by Pizitz, which in turn became McRae's in 1987.

Century Plaza, showing former Sears (left) and Rich's stores.

Rich's was dual-branded as Rich's-Macy's in 2003 when Macy's acquired the Rich's chain. The Rich's-Macy's store at Century Plaza, however, closed after only one year in operation and was never rechristened as "Macy's".^[2] A Piccadilly Cafeteria in the mall also closed that same year.

When plans were announced to demolish Eastwood Mall across the street in 2004, two of the mall's tenants (Books-A-Million and Parisian) had announced preliminary plans to relocate to Century Plaza, with the latter taking over the McRae's space.^[3] McRae's was eventually converted to Belk in 2006 when the chain was acquired, but closed later that same year. JCPenney also closed in 2006, and many inline tenants began to close as well. In February 2009, it was announced that Sears, the last remaining anchor, would close its store by May 31.^[4]

Mall closing

Century Plaza closed at the end of business on May 31, 2009. At the time of its closing, fewer than 40 stores, including Foot Locker, Champs Sports, Finish Line and RadioShack remained open in the mall.^[5] General Growth Properties announced that Sears would remain open through June 14 in order to complete the liquidation of the store.^[6] As of December 19, 2011, the mall was still empty and no progress had been made in doing anything with it.

References

1. "Century Plaza". International Council of Shopping Centers. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2009.
2. Nicholson, Gilbert (January 16, 2004). "Rich's-Macy's at Century Plaza to close". Birmingham Business Journal. Retrieved May 23, 2009.
3. Nicholson, Gilbert (February 27, 2004). "Are Eastwood retailers targeting Century Plaza?". Birmingham Business Journal. Retrieved May 23, 2009.
4. Cooper, Lauren B. (February 27, 2009). "Sears in Century Plaza to close". Birmingham Business Journal. Retrieved May 23, 2009.
5. "Store directory". Century Plaza official website. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
6. Kent, Dawn (June 1, 2009). "Birmingham's Century Plaza Mall shuttered; Sears remains open 2 more weeks for liquidation sale.". The Birmingham News. Retrieved June 1, 2009.