West Park Mall Explained

West Park Mall
Opening Date:1981
Developer:Partnership Between Drury Development Corp. & May Centers, Inc.
Manager:CBL Properties
Owner:LNR Partners LLC
Number Of Stores:60+
Number Of Anchors:5 (4 open, 1 vacant)
Floor Area:[1]
Floors:1
Publictransit: Cape Girardeau Transit Authority

West Park Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Opened in 1981, it is anchored by JCPenney, Ashley HomeStore, Old Navy, and Barnes & Noble.

History

The mall was built in 1981 by a partnership between St. Louis-based May Centers, Inc., and Cape Girardeau-based Drury Development Corp., developer of the Drury Hotel Chain,[2] [3] It featured Famous-Barr (later Macy's) and JCPenney as its anchor stores, with original tenants including Hallmark Cards, Foot Locker, Kay-Bee Toys, Claire's, Zales Jewelers, GNC, Waldenbooks, and Lerner New York.[4] An 80000square feet Venture was added as a third anchor in 1984.[5] Westfield Group bought the mall from CenterMark in 1993, and renamed it Westfield Shoppingtown West Park in 1998.[6]

The Venture store closed in 1998, the same year in which the mall owners proposed adding a fourth anchor store.[7] The West Park Mall Venture store and another at Kentucky Oaks Mall in nearby Paducah, Kentucky both became Shopko in 1999,[8] [9] bringing West Park to 100 percent occupancy for the first time in its history.[10] Shopko closed in 2001.[11]

Old Navy opened in the mall in 2004.[12] A year later, the former Venture and Shopko space became Steve & Barry's.[13] In 2006, Westfield sold the mall to Centro Watt (which in 2011 rebranded as Brixmor Property Group), who reverted it to its original name.[14] Barnes & Noble was also added.[15]

Several stores closed in the mall between 2008 and 2010, including Steve & Barry's, Pacific Sunwear, Tilt, (a video arcade that was originally called "The Gold Mine" in the 1980s,) and a restaurant which had been at the mall for 24 years. Despite these vacancies, the mall was 88 percent occupied in 2010, with several of its original stores still in operation.[16] Brixmor hired Madison Marquette to be the manager of the mall in mid-2012.[17]

Ashley Furniture opened in 2018 in the former Venture building.

On January 5, 2021, it was announced that Macy's would be closing as part of a plan to close 46 stores nationwide. The store closed on March 21, 2021.[18]

Anchors

Current

Former

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.madisonmarquette.com/portfolio/property/property:306
  2. Web site: Wolz . Jay . West Park Mall going on auction block . Standard Democrat . 10 June 2021 . Southeast Missourian . November 13, 2021.
  3. Web site: Westborough Mall, Inc. v. City of Cape Girardeau . Casetext . Casetext: Smarter Legal Research . November 13, 2021.
  4. Web site: Bulletin Journal - Google News Archive Search. News.google.com.
  5. Web site: Bulletin Journal - Google News Archive Search. News.google.com.
  6. Web site: St. Louis Post-Dispatch Newspaper Archives. Nl.newsbank.com.
  7. Web site: The Southeast Missourian - Google News Archive Search. News.google.com.
  8. Web site: The Southeast Missourian - Google News Archive Search. News.google.com.
  9. Web site: The Southeast Missourian - Google News Archive Search. News.google.com.
  10. Web site: The Southeast Missourian - Google News Archive Search. News.google.com.
  11. Web site: SeMissourian.com: Column: Mall could still be an option for Sears, insiders say (06/03/02) . 2013-02-04 . 2015-06-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150618124957/http://www.semissourian.com/story/76146.html . dead .
  12. Web site: The Southeast Missourian - Google News Archive Search. News.google.com.
  13. Web site: The Southeast Missourian - Google News Archive Search. News.google.com.
  14. Web site: The Southeast Missourian - Google News Archive Search. News.google.com.
  15. Web site: SeMissourian.com: Local News: Barnes & Noble opens new store at West Park location (10/25/06) . 2013-02-04 . 2015-06-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150618150747/http://www.semissourian.com/story/1174405.html . dead .
  16. Web site: SeMissourian.com: Local News: West Park Mall going strong despite some vacancies, according to economist, sales figures . 2013-02-04 . 2010-02-11 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100211132440/http://www.semissourian.com/story/1609088.html . dead .
  17. Web site: Business: Progress continues with Isle of Capri casino construction (04/30/12) | Southeast Missourian newspaper, Cape Girardeau, MO . 2013-02-04 . 2016-02-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160207043214/http://www.semissourian.com/story/1843400.html . dead .
  18. https://www.semissourian.com/story/2857871.html Semissourian News