Centennial, Colorado is a suburb of Denver located south of downtown roughly along Interstate 25.  With just over 100,000 residents, Centennial is one of the largest cities in Colorado and has a relatively recent history as a city, being incorporated in 2001.  It is surrounded by other large suburbs in an area of urban sprawl stretching to the south of Denver, such as Littleton and Englewood, and more recently spilling into Douglas County and former Ranch country.

Southglenn Mall, opened in 1974, was a large, two-story enclosed mall in Centennial located along University Blvd near Arapahoe.  It was developed by Jordan Perlmutter, the same company which built Northglenn Mall and also nearby competitor Southwest Plaza in Littleton.  The anchors when the mall opened were Sears, May D&F, and Denver Dry Goods.  In 1987, Denver Dry Goods was sold to JCPenney and the following year in 1988 the mall was renovated.  Then, in 1993, May D&F became Texas-based Foley’s, and in 1994 Joslin’s built a large flagship anchor on the east side of the mall. 

Unfortunately, the middle of the 1990s were the apex of success for Southglenn, as intense competition mounted nearby.  In 1996, Park Meadows Mall opened about 5 miles away in nearby Lone Tree.  Park Meadows immediately established itself as a destination mall for the entire Denver area, not only drawing from a larger base than Southglenn but also positioning itself at the busy freeway junction of I-25 and CO 470.  Park Meadows started draining stores away from Southglenn, at first slowly, but soon the exodus picked up an alarming pace.  Then, in 1998, another blow hit Southglenn as the Joslins flagship became less important as the Joslins chain was absorbed into Dillards.  In 1999, the mall was sold, and the JCPenney became a Home Store, only to close entirely in 2002.  In 2001 some minor last-ditch efforts were made to renovate the center, but they were too little and too late.  All this time Park Meadows had been dominant in south Denver and meanwhile Southwest Plaza in nearby Littleton had held its ground over there, increasing the number of top-tier mall stores. Finally, by 2005, Southglenn’s owners and the City of Centennial announced the ever-popular lifestyle center conversion, ending the mall’s over three-decade run.  And finally, in 2006, Foley’s became Macy’s.

The new mall will be called Streets at Southglenn, and demolition began on the old mall in 2006.  Nearly complete in 2007, the master development plan indicates a faux-old-tyme “Main Street” type decor with outdoor greenspace and almost 1 million square feet of retail, combined with residences and 100,000 square feet of office space.  If the pictures indicate what will actually take place as a result of construction, the new center should actually be somewhat impressive and more useful to the nearby citizens than the rather crusty old mall structure which was there.  At any rate, this one’s another one which has gone into the retail history books (read: our website) for archival preservation. 

We visited Southglenn in January 2005 and took the pictures featured here.  For some neat demolition photos and a liveblog of what’s going on with the site, go to the redevelopment website.  From memory, I can recall the most interesting feature of the mall was the second level which sort of randomly appeared in the middle of the mall, which was pretty much a straight shot between anchors.  If you have anything to add, feel free to pipe up in the comments section. 

With a 2005 estimated population of 520,000 people sitting at over 6,000 feet above sea level, metro Colorado Springs is a bustling economy.  Mainly known for Pike’s Peak, the Red Rocks area, and numerous military installations, the city grew over 30 percent in the 1990s.  Much of this growth was sprawl, in the way of strip malls, apartment complexes, and housing subdivisions as far as the eye can see.  Two malls dominate Colorado Springs, and both are mid-tier in terms of the type of stores.  You won’t find a Nordstrom or too many expensive boutique offerings in Colorado Springs because people drive about an hour or so north to the Denver area for that.  The two major malls in Colorado Springs are The Citadel, located just east of downtown along Academy Blvd, and Chapel Hills Mall, located north of downtown near I-25 and Academy Blvd.   

Opening in 1982, Chapel Hills Mall is a two-level, super-regional enclosed mall located on the north side of Colorado Springs along Academy Boulevard just south of I-25.  It is currently approximately 1.2 million square feet and has the capacity for 154 retail stores.  Chapel Hills Mall is currently anchored by K-Mart, JCPenney, Sears, and Macy’s.  For those of you who are counting, there are 5,754 parking spaces at Chapel Hills Mall.  I counted them all.  Just kidding, it was listed on the mall’s leasing website.

Chapel Hills Mall is owned and operated by General Growth Properties of Chicago, who built the mall in 1982.  Over the years the mall has gone through two major renovations, in 1985 and 1998.  The latter renovation was the most extensive, and it brought with it a large ice-skating rink which was very popular.  However, Dick’s Sporting Goods began negotiations with General Growth in 2005 to open a store within the mall in the very same space which the ice-skating rink occupies, so away went the ice-skating rink in June 2006.  The renovation in 1998 also brought a climbing wall, Borders Books, and a 15-screen theatre. 

Other changes have been afoot at Chapel Hills Mall in terms of the anchor stores.  In 2005, Mervyns was sold by Target Corp. and became its own independent parent company called Mervyns LLC.  Due to a slump in sales, Mervyns LLC decided to lay off over 4,000 employees and close over 60 underperforming stores, focusing on western and southwestern markets.  Unfortunately, this included most of the stores in Colorado, and the Chapel Hills store closed in January 2006.  In addition to the Mervyns change, Foley’s became Macy’s in September 2006 when Macy’s created their national brand and converted all the May properties they bought to the Macy’s nameplate. 

I visited Chapel Hills Mall for the first and only time in January 2005 and took the pictures featured here.  Mervyn’s and Foley’s were still at the mall, as was the ice rink.  So, there has been significant change in just under two years.  However, the mall is still a super-regional draw and competes with Citadel Mall (and also to a lesser degree with Denver) for the Colorado Springs shopping dollar.

What better activity is there on a cold January day than going to the mall?  That’s just what I did on a free day I had back in January, 2005, in the Denver area.  My first stop was east suburban Aurora Mall, one of Aurora, Colorado’s two enclosed centers.  It’s located at the interchange between I-225 and Alameda Avenue.

Aurora itself is both typical and atypical of American suburbs today.  It’s similar to most American suburbs in that it lacks a strong, historical central business district like many cities, and it’s also very large and sprawly.  It’s not typical because of its sheer size: Aurora has nearly 300,000 residents, over half of the city of Denver itself.  It’s actually projected that in the next 25 years that Aurora will eventually surpass the city of Denver in population, making it a massive super-suburb like Anaheim, California or Scottsdale, Arizona.  Notable people from Aurora include Home Improvement child actor Zachery Ty Bryan and former presidential hopeful John Kerry (yes, he was born here).  There’s an Air Force Base, but other than that, Aurora’s your standard middle-of-the-road American suburb.

Aurora Mall, now called the Town Center at Aurora, was beginning a series of renovations which updated the dated center’s appearance in 2005, giving it new life for the new millenium, or something like that.  In the past few years, Aurora Mall/Town Center at Aurora has been under some scrutiny for its management policies.  An investigation by a local Denver TV station has stated the Aurora Mall’s leasing agents have official policies of discrimination and that they are attempting to oust minority shoppers in favor of getting more caucasian shoppers into the mall.  Purposely.  A leasing agent is actually quoted on tape as saying he wants to gear the mall more toward whites.  This alarming controversy certanly paints a different picture of the kinds of unscrupulous, ruthless individuals and terrible policies and a framework of careless responsibility.

Aurora Mall as of my visit in January, 2005 was still mostly outdated.  The two-level, straight shot center was anchored by Foley’s (two locations), Sears, and JCPenney.  The decor of Aurora Mall was decidedly 80s: a pastel pink, purple and green combination dominated, with blond wooden railings throughout the center.  The floor was being replaced with the typical drab, uber-modern white tiles that are on every mall everywhere today, so you can be sure it’s different now.  I’m actually curious as to what became of all the renovations.  Is Aurora Mall back on its feet?  Pictures taken Jan. 2005.