| Westfield Annapolis | |
| Location: | Annapolis, Maryland |
| Address: | 2002 Annapolis Mall |
| Opening Date: | 1980[1] |
| Developer: | May Centers, Inc. |
| Manager: | Centennial Realty |
| Owner: | Centennial Real Estate Management |
| Number Of Stores: | over 240[2] |
| Number Of Anchors: | 2 |
| Floor Area: | 1416774square feet. |
| Floors: | 1 (2 in Macy's, Forever 21, Crate & Barrel, former Lord & Taylor and small mezzanine level next to movie theater)[3] |
| Parking: | 4,376 spots, including three 3-floor Parking Garages, and rooftop parking. |
| Publictransit: | MTA Maryland bus: 210, 215 Annapolis Transit bus: Red, Yellow, Green, Gold, Brown, Purple-North, Purple-South |
Westfield Annapolis is a shopping mall in Parole, just east of the intersection of Interstate 97 and U.S. Route 50 and in close proximity to the mall's namesake of Annapolis, Maryland. Owned and managed by Centennial Real Estate Management, the mall features 1,416,744 sq ft (131,622.6 m2) of GLA, making it the second-largest shopping mall in Maryland after Arundel Mills. As of 2022, the mall features two traditional anchors Macy's and JCPenney, as well as an 11-screen AMC Theatres and prominent specialty retailers such as Forever 21, The Container Store and Crate & Barrel.
The site was at one time the location of the Annapolis terminus of the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway, and was known as the "Best Gate" station, which had three single-ended and four double-ended sidings, where rail cars could be shunted on or off of the single-track WB&A east–west railway which ran to the north–south Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad lines.[4] This "Best Gate" station gave the name to the nearby Bestgate Road, which today runs along the northern perimeter of the mall.
A free-standing, single-level Montgomery Ward store occupied the site during the 1970s. Following the construction and opening of a single-level mall on the site in 1980, Montgomery Ward became an anchor. Additional anchor stores included Washington, D.C.-based Garfinckel's and Hecht's, both with two levels. The mall was expanded in 1983 with the addition of a single-level JCPenney. Garfinckel's closed in 1990 after the company went bankrupt. After the mall was acquired by Westfield Group, it was expanded again in 1994 with the addition of a two-level Nordstrom store as well as an expanded food court.[5] In 1998 a two-level Lord & Taylor store opened which was followed by the opening of an 11-screen movie theater. The Montgomery Ward store closed in 2001 and in 2002 was replaced with a Sears store. Hecht's became Macy's in September 2006. Another large addition to the mall was completed in 2007, which included an expansion of the existing JCPenney store.
The former Garfinckel's space once housed a two-level Borders Books and Music store which operated during the mid-2000s until its closure in 2011. A two-level Forever 21 store now occupies the space.
Lord & Taylor announced in August 2017 that they would close. Westfield announced its space would be reconstructed into additional stores including The Container Store.[6] [7] [8] [9] In December of that same year, the mall's owner Westfield Group was acquired by French firm Unibail-Rodamco, becoming Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield.
In April 2018, Anne Arundel County Public Library opened a temporary branch called "Discoveries: the Library at the Mall", in Westfield Annapolis.[10] It moved to a permanent location in the former American Eagle and Charlotte Russe stores in February 2020.[11] Since July 2021, the library includes a Community Pantry where staff distribute diapers, baby supplies, hygiene items and menstrual supplies twice a month.[12]
In May 2020, Nordstrom announced it would shutter their Annapolis location during a wave of secondary store closures.[13] [14] The store closed on July 15 of that same year.[15]
The SPCA of Anne Arundel County opened an animal shelter called "Paws at the Mall" at the mall in September 2020. It was the first animal shelter of its kind to operate inside of an indoor shopping mall.[16]
In April 2022, AMC Theatres announced the acquisition of seven Bow Tie Cinemas locations, including their location at Westfield Annapolis.[17] The theater reopened as AMC Annapolis Mall 11 on the weekend of April 21, 2022.
On May 10, 2024, a listing by local retail broker H&R Retail confirmed that the mall's JCPenney department store would close in 2025 and be replaced by 5 new tenants, including Hobby Lobby, Grocery Outlet and Onelife Fitness, leaving Macy's as the last traditional department store.[18] On May 16, 2024, it was confirmed that mall owner Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield were in negotiations to sell the mall.[19] This comes after a prior announcement in 2022 that the company was seeking to sell their American malls, later amended to only selling non-flagship properties.[20] On August 5, 2024, it was announced that Centennial Real Estate Management acquired the property for an undisclosed sum.[21]
On Saturday, November 18, 2006, an off-duty United States Secret Service agent was at the mall when he witnessed a fight in progress in the food court. During the attempt to break up the fight, one of the combatants pulled a gun and fired at the agent, wounding him. The agent returned fire, hitting the shooter twice. A third person was wounded in the altercation.[22] [23] A midshipman from the U.S. Naval Academy ran toward the sound of gunshots and provided first aid for the Secret Service agent. That midshipman later received the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.[24] The mall was closed shortly after the incident, with all patrons asked to leave over the public address system. The associated trial ended in December 2007 and the shooter was sentenced to 65 years in prison.[25]