For those out there who are true dead mall fans, this one’s for you.  Get ready for a tale of competition, empty promises and sad outcomes, but not before a complete pre-demolition tour of an empty ghost mall nine months after it closed for good.   

Located in northern Tarrant County, Texas, about 10 miles northeast of downtown Fort Worth and 25 miles west of downtown Dallas, North Richland Hills is a suburb of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, home to over 6 million people with a geographic spread larger than the states of Rhode Island and Connecticut combined.  North Richland Hills has a population of about 60,000, but is surrounded on all sides by other suburbs and the city of Fort Worth. 

North Richland Hills has an enviable location in the DFW Metroplex, in between Dallas and Fort Worth and relatively close to DFW Airport.  The city is served by Loop 820, the freeway which circles around Fort Worth, and also by TX 183, one of the three east-west freeway linkages between Fort Worth and Dallas (the others being I-20 and I-30, respectively).  In addition, North Richland Hills is also home to a popular water park, and until fairly recently was home to two large, adjacent enclosed malls.  The city was also ranked in 2006 as one of the “Top 100 Best Places to Live in America” according to Money Magazine.

Because of its location and prosperous demographic base, retailers sought to establish presence in the area early on.  North East Mall opened in 1970 or 1971 (which?) in the small city of Hurst, right next to North Richland Hills.  North East Mall was anchored by Montgomery Ward, JCPenney, Sears, and Leonard’s (later Dillard’s).  As the area grew, a complementary mall called North Hills Mall was built directly across Loop 820 from North East Mall, in North Richland Hills.  North Hills Mall opened in 1979, anchored by Stripling and Cox, Foley’s and Mervyn’s.  As it was newer than North East Mall, it stole the thunder for a period of time; however, due to the anchor balance between the two malls the relationship proved a complementary balance for many years.   

This all changed in 1997, when North East Mall struck a deal that would forever change the co-existing relationship between the two malls.  It was announced then that a subdivision of over 100 homes would be demolished south of the existing mall for a large expansion, which doubled the size of the mall and added destination anchor Nordstrom in one fell swoop.  The entire mall was also updated and renovated and when the whole thing was complete, North East Mall also received several high-end fashion stores, putting it miles ahead of its former competition across the freeway.

As renovation proceeded on North East Mall, the owner of North Hills Mall scrambled to get in gear and embark upon a renovation of its own.  In November 1999, North Hills Mall was sold to a new group of investors with ideas as big as Texas itself.  Plans were unveiled to promote North Hills Mall as the ‘entertainment’ complement to North East Mall’s fashion dominance.  In theory, the two malls would continue to co-exist peacefully again as they had for years prior.

In a June 2002 edition of the Dallas Business Journal, developer Burk Collins announced a $93 million loan for renovation and expansion of North Hills Mall, over two years after first announcing the same project.  Among his plans included a Cinemark Tinseltown theater, a Jillian’s entertainment complex and an Olympic-sized ice rink.  Another of his most far-fetched yet awesome ideas was a people-mover system throughout the planned 1.2 million square-foot mall, a man-made three acre lake, and a fountain which would project 200 feet into the air.  The rest of the new space would be filled with themed restaurants including a Dave & Buster’s and a new Burlington Coat Factory anchor.  “It’s a lot of fun…” Collins said. “I hope we can work something out.”

Unfortunately, nothing remotely close to the above plans panned out for North Hills Mall, for various reasons.  First, access to the mall stemming from TXDot construction on Loop 820 in prevented traffic from getting to the mall efficiently for several years.  This, combined with the lag time in development in comparison with the booming success story across the street caused the closure of Stripling and Cox in 2000 and Foley’s in Fall 2001.  Foley’s also added insult to injury in building a brand new store onto adjacent North East Mall.  Then in 2004, the architectural firm responsible for the proposed renovations, by this time long overdue, sued developer/owner Michael Kest because Kest apparently wouldn’t return their blueprints and instead distributed them to competitors.  Whoops. 

All this time, the mall became more and more troubled.  While North East Mall thrived immensely, North Hills Mall went from 75% occupancy in 2000 to 20% occupancy by mid-2004.  Mervyn’s was the only anchor left by Fall 2004, and legal wranglings were still ensuing between California owner Kest and local developer Burk Collins over what to do.  Meanwhile, the bottom fell out and the mall was bleeding money profusely, and, On October 15, 2004, North Hills Mall’s remaining tenants were forced out and the mall locked up for good.  

Well, almost.

In July 2005, we arrived at North Hills Mall unwitting to the above story and attempted a visit.  It was not immediately apparent that the mall was closed for business; however, there were signs that the mall was on its last legs.  Several signs in the parking lot advertised sales of fixtures etc., but we figured a couple stores might still be open because the mall’s doors were wide open and many people were walking around the site.  We ventured into the shuttered Mervyn’s store and gained access into the main walkway, and became instantly aware that the mall was being prepared for demolition and the people walking around were workers harvesting any valuable fixtures from the site.  Most of them ignored us, and we were able to walk the entire length of the mall unfettered, and even use the mall’s restroom which was located in the former food court.  However, upon leaving the mall we were confronted by a man on a bicycle (?!) who wanted to know what we were doing, and also admonished us for being there.  He followed us out on the bike the same way we came and also back into the parking lot, before riding back into the mall.  The whole ordeal was a bit strange, but it allowed for all the pictures you see here and in the end the mall’s memory can be preserved.

Rather shockingly, when researching for this article we discovered the mall was not immediately torn down following our visit.  Instead, due to legal wranglings over the site, the mall sat and rotted until early 2007 when a court order from the city finally forced them to tear it down completely.  Other uses for the shuttered center included developing an Asian-themed mall or turning part of the abandoned structure into medical facilities, but the mall fell into such disrepair that none of this became possible without a complete demolition. 

So what will become of the site?  That’s a question we can’t really answer right now.  After all the legal wranglings and funding issues, the site was supposed to become a 900,000 square-foot “Lifestyle Center” called Citywalk at Calloway Creek (link to PDF), with at least two-thirds of the space devoted to retail and entertainment in order to complement the mega-monster mall next door which still thrives today.  Isn’t that what they tried to do with the old mall?  Hmm.  Furthermore, this Citywalk business was announced in 2005 and has yet to come to fruition (as of February 2008) despite numerous online articles announcing it would already be open by now.  We won’t hold our breath.

It seems rather sad to me that the poor citizens of this area have watched their once-thriving mall literally crumble to pieces while a perfectly viable option was proposed and seemingly funded for several years.  I hope someday something beneficial and unique returns to the vacant site, and is much more than the typical vapid sea of box stores floating amid a shiny gray abyss of parking stalls.

Directory snagged from defunct mall website.  Thanks, wayback machine!

Outside, including former Foley’s:

Inside, including dark abandoned Mervyn’s and stripped mall corridor:

San Antonio might be known better for its Latin flavors, the Alamo and its neighboring historic tourist-laden Riverwalk area of downtown, but few tourists venture beyond the riverboats and history and delve into the rest of the city.  Why?  Well, unless you’re a local or in one of the various military installations around the area, there isn’t really that much to do.  Except for us retail buffs, of course.  San Antonio is possibly one of the most over-malled metros in the entire country, and its numerous vacant or recently imploded shopping malls speak to this. 

San Antonio is typical of Texas cities, and of Sun Belt cities in general in its growth patterns.  Unfettered growth, often with little to no zoning regulations has run rampant for several decades and suburban sprawl exists just about everywhere.  In fact, San Antonio has become the second largest city in Texas and seventh largest in the country; however, due to the fact that the city has few suburbs, it is only 30th in metropolitan area rankings. Because of the unfettered growth in the latter half of the 20th century, a lot of retail strips were constructed.  One of the most prolific of these is the I-410 belt around the city, but others exist along the other freeways and major thoroughfares.  Several of the city’s malls were also constructed along this beltway, including the Crossroads of San Antonio, located on the northwest side of the city near the intersection of I-10 and I-410 along Fredericksburg Road. 

Crossroads opened in the 1960s as Wonderland Mall and quickly became a super-regional destination for the entire area.  From what we can tell, the mall chugged along and was fairly successful for quite a few years.  However, as fickle as the retail market is, San Antonians shifted their shopping preferences to other centers, specifically the two which surround Crossroads on both sides of I-410.  Located within five minutes on either side, both Ingram Park Mall and North Star Mall have retained shoppers’ fancy in recent years, the latter being San Antonio’s most successful retail destination for some time now. 

Crossroads is also unique in that it has been profiled since 1986 by the Urban Land Institute in a case study concerning the center’s economic viability over time.  The mall changed dramatically starting in the late 1980s due to swirling competition from better-positioned malls and continued to evolve into what it is today: a value-oriented mall.  As is typical with the downfall and conversion of enclosed super-regionals to value-oriented or obsolete malls, the puzzle pieces don’t seem to fit right.  This was definitely the case here, as while much of the mall has remained viable through off-price and local merchants and anchor stores (ie. Burlington Coat Factory, Hobby Lobby, Stein Mart), good portions of the mall remain vacant today.  Take a look at the study, it also indicates the competition from other malls inspired the center to renovate and expand in 1987 before succumbing to the competition in 1991 and shifting focus to being an off-price destination.  Today the mall exists as such, complementing to the malls on either side of it in its value niche.  But for how long?  In 2005 plans were announced to refurbish the center and reposition it to be more inviting to customers.  Can we say comfy couches and carpeting? 

In terms of decor, Crossroads is currently looking rather aged except for the 1987 expansion featuring the food court and its own wing, which looks very much like it doesn’t belong with the rest of the earth-toned features occupying the rest of the mall.  Its two levels are set up rather interestingly in order to fit into a rather tight footprint between Fredericksburg Road and I-10, yet the mall is still rather large at 700,000 square feet. 

Take a look at the pictures we snapped in April 2007.  Tell us more and let us know the detailed history of the mall, including your own personal stories.

Baytown, Texas is a large working-class suburb of about 70,000 people about 20 miles east of Houston.  Baytown’s location on Galveston Bay has positioned it for industrial growth throughout the last few decades, mostly in oil and steel.  Baytown is home to one 1.2 million square foot mall located at I-10 and Garth Road.   

Opened in 1981, San Jacinto Mall is one of two major malls for the area east of Houston, the other being Pasadena Town Square in Pasadena.  Both malls have recently fallen victim to the problems ranging from outdated to competition from other Houston-area malls.  As a result, vacancy rate at San Jacinto Mall has skyrocketed and, despite several plans for renovation, the mall looks today largely as it did when it opened in 1981. 

When it opened, San Jacinto Mall was a modern showplace containing 175 stores and an impressively themed two-level food court and entertainment area in the middle of the mall.  The design of San Jacinto Mall is much like two overlapping “L”, with a square in the middle bounded by some of the anchors and the food court.  In the 1980s, anchor stores included Service Merchandise, Mervyn’s, JCPenney, Sears, Beall’s, Palais Royal, Foley’s, and Montgomery Ward.  Critics balked at such a large center, arguing that Baytown was not large enough to support such a development.  And in the end they were right, but more on that in a bit.   

The decor is what makes San Jacinto Mall an incredible relic.  In today’s modern retailing world, shiny marble-like tiles, whitewashed walls, and frequent kiosks complement bright lights, soft edges and pewter fixtures, while sections of comfy chairs and area rugs are surrounded by unassuming planters.  This is a stark contrast to mall decor of the 1970s and early 1980s, where earthen tones, woods, dark tiles, fountains and trees helped to create an artificial ’inside’ world to woo shoppers away from the actual outside world of the downtowns the malls helped replace.  In creating the inside mall space to mirror nature and the outside world, developers sought to give shoppers a similar, yet fake, environment for their escapist activities.  They don’t do this today, giving shoppers a pristine environment to escape into the hedonistic world of shopping, actually favoring a balance toward capitalism instead of aesthetics in giving up the fountains and trees to provide kiosks in order to maximize profit. 

I view this shift as mostly negative.  Early mall developers such as Victor Gruen sought to provide awe-inspiring enclosed environments for the activity of shopping, giving rise to amazingly complex worlds complete with spectacular fountains, conversation pits, sculpture gardens, center stages, and even bird cages.  These older centers provided more than a vapid utility, they were community-building places, significant in their own rite as more than just places to go and spend a buck.  Sure, that was the reason you were there, but they felt less soulless.  San Jacinto Mall has received little more than a few coats of paint during the past quarter century, and the decor is like stepping into a time machine back to this era.  The wooden facades of the former Service Merchandise and former Walgreens complement the dark floors and instead of a few small ceramic planters, there are entire garden areas, some with full-sized trees.  The high ceilings have a row of giant windows on one side, allowing a constant flow of natural light into the enclosed space, while the other side is curiously flanked with a continuous, arched mural of the daytime sky.  Along the sky mural are humorous curiosities painted in, such as puffy clouds, jets with long contrails and even a roving gang of UFO ships, Space Invaders style.  Mirrors and fountains are also not in short supply here.   

Speaking of Atari, the food court and entertainment area near the middle of the mall is also worth noting.  Between the first and second levels here, the ceiling has an early-80s latticework design made with slender metal beams, and the food court’s sign looks like it belongs on the cover for an early 80s video game.  This area is the only two-level area of the mall outside the anchor stores, and the entertainment area on top features a full-sized carousel, playground and a few benches but oddly little else occupies the second level.

Today, San Jacinto Mall is like several malls in the Houston area with an abundance of stores near the central pivot points of the mall and a contrast of abandonment on the far wings.  Anchor woes came in 2001 as Montgomery Ward and Service Merchandise closed amid the shutting of those chains; Bealls also closed the same year.  In 2006, Mervyns departed the mall as they left the Houston area entirely.  So, as you can see, the loss of anchors is mostly not the mall’s fault, but the loss of indoor stores is.  Baytown is not large enough to support this development, and articles we’ve found suggest Baytowners (Baytownies? Whatever.) shop at the more successful Houston-area malls like the Galleria and even clear across the metro area 50 miles away at Katy Mills.  The mall today houses about 60 stores, and a popular cinema.  At only one-third capacity, many of these stores are near the middle of the mall, and several wings are almost completely dead.  Most notably, the Mervyn’s/Service Merchandise corridor and the Macy’s/Palais Royal corridor are faltering.

As a result of these problems, you can bet changes are in the works for San Jacinto Mall.  The former Montgomery Ward wing, which was possibly the worst-off for the longest time, has now been closed and will soon be demolished.  In its place, a “lifestyle” wing will be built, with little details released yet.  If it doesn’t pump some vigor back into the mall, you can surely bet that large portions if not entire mall will be abandoned in few more years. 

Our exclusive pictures of San Jacinto Mall were taken in April 2007.  Add some of your own stories or comments about this truly interesting relic. 

Food court area:

Outdoor shots:

More indoor shots:

Pharr is a city in the Rio Grande Valley region of far southern Texas, a 70-mile string of cities between Mission in the west and Brownsville in the east, roughly paralleling US 83 along the Mexican border.  The region is one of the fastest growing in the nation, with a current population of over 1 million and a projected estimate of 1.3 million a decade from now.  This explosive growth is due, in part, to the presence of the border with Mexico.  An estimated 2 million people live on the Mexican side of the border, and when combined with the U.S. side the regional population is comparable with that of Texas’ larger cities, like San Antonio.  The region is also growing due to tourism from both Mexican nationals, snowbirds, and more recently eco-tourism.

As mentioned, a large percentage of the tourism in the Rio Valley of Texas comes from Mexican nationals, and much of that is for shopping.  Even though NAFTA has made American-made products widely available on the Mexican side of the border, many of the large malls on the American side as well as other retail outlets are packed with autos sporting Mexican license plates, from Distrito Federal (Mexico City) to the most often seen Nuevo Leon (Monterrey) and Tamaulipas (the Mexican side of the border here).

Generally, however, these tourists and locals are shopping at super-regional malls catering to this cross-border region - malls like Sunrise Mall in Brownsville and La Plaza Mall in McAllen.  As with other regions of the country, there are several centers which have fallen by the wayside.  

El Centro Mall in Pharr is one of these.  Located at the intersection of Central Ave and U.S. 83 in Pharr near the border with McAllen, El Centro was once the destination mall for the entire Valley and neighboring Mexico as well.  However, with competition emerging in the 1980s from the massive behemoth La Plaza Mall just down the road in McAllen, both tourist and local dollars alike fled El Centro.  So too did the anchors, with Sam’s Club and Montgomery Ward leaving and being replaced with Rehoboth Joy Dollar (former Sam’s), a Grand Central Station indoor entertainment facility, a Convergys call center, and a roster of mid-range stores, many of them local.  The only anchor to weather the economic changes at the mall has been Bealls, a store which seems to never update its facade despite the success of the mall it occupies. 

The decor of the 350,000 square-foot El Centro Mall harkens back to the 70s and 80s, with several stores sporting fronts which are a couple decades out of date.  In addition, the lighting inside the mall is relatively poor and the ceilings are rather low.  At least the Easter Bunny was there.  He had some pretty cool digs too in the way of a tattered, brown la-z-boy from days-gone-by, but we digress.

Today, the future of El Centro Mall is in question.  As of December 2006, the city of Pharr met with Houston-based owners Levcor Inc. to discuss the mall’s future, and impress upon the new owners their desire for renovation.  The city would like the renovation to return the center to its retail roots, and kick the indoor entertainment facility as well as the call center out of the mix.  The call center and entertainment facility have no plans to leave, however, and both have leases through at least 2009.  In addition, Levcor recently purchased 10 acres to the north of the mall with plans for chain restaurants and other retail outlot activity. 

Clearly, despite the downfall of the mall itself, the area is still growing by leaps and bounds and continued economic viability of the area seems likely.  However, the mall itself will probably fall victim to redevelopment and be ultimately torn down. At any rate, the mall has been preserved here in visual form; pictures were taken in April 2007.  As always, feel free to complete the story of El Centro through your personal anecdotes and a more thorough history than what we’ve already found.

The Houston, Texas metropolitan area is both massive and diverse.  In terms of population, at over 5 million people, it’s in the top 10 in the United States.  In spatial extent, the Houston area stretches over 60 miles from Katy in the west to Baytown in the east, and over 100 miles from Conroe in the north to Galveston in the south.  Everything’s bigger in Texas, it seems. 

In terms of retail destinations, the Houston area has many ancillary or neighborhood malls with varying degrees of success, several successful super-regional malls and one dominant mega-regional, The Galleria, which draws from a local as well as visitor base.    

For our purposes, we’ll start at the bottom.  Mall of the Mainland is the Houston area’s southernmost mall, located at I-45, TX 1764, and Mall of the Mainland Parkway.  It opened in the mid-1990s, functionally replacing the failed Galvez Mall in Galveston which closed in 1996. 

Mall of the Mainland’s location plays an important role in its success, or rather lack thereof.  It is the southernmost of 4 shopping malls on the 50-mile stretch of I-45 between downtown Houston and Galveston, which lies on the Gulf of Mexico.  Mall of the Mainland is the first mall along this route coming from the south, approximately 10 miles north of Galveston and less than 10 miles south of the immensely successful super-regional Baybrook Mall in far southeast Houston.  Due to this positioning, the mall really only serves Galveston, Texas City, La Marque, Santa Fe, and the immediate area.  Anyone to the north would go to the more popular Baybrook Mall, and it’s also pretty obvious that people from the area around Mall of the Mainland go up to Baybrook and the rest of Houston to shop, because Mall of the Mainland is suffering.

The design of Mall of the Mainland is a basic dumbbell connecting Sears and Dillards with a long corridor in between.  Along the corridor are Macy’s, Palais Royal, and a 12-screen movie theatre with a food court near the middle of the mall. Unfortunately, however, the interior of the mall is only about 20 percent occupied and has never enjoyed more than a 75 percent occupancy.  JCPenney also operated at the mall but closed in 2006, favoring a location up the road at Baybrook Mall.   

The majority of stores in the mall are located near the middle of the corridor by the food court and movie theatres, with a dearth in the radial wings.  In fact, many of the stores are boarded up with temporary plaster while they decide what to do next.  Rather humorously, some of the plasterboard features advertisements for the mall such as “Where shopping’s a vacation!” and others which caught my eye.  Reading like a postcard between two ladies, Nikki and Gloria, who clearly share delusional shopping values, the text emphatically promotes the mall being ’in the middle of everything’ and having ’so much to do’ - even promoting mini-concerts and car shows.  Hmmm.  We’ll have to take their opinions with a grain of salt, judging by the relatively spartan shopping amenities.  At the opposite wing of the mall near Dillard’s, fake stores were actually painted onto the plasterboard to give the appearance of actual tenants.  Now, this has to be a bit tongue-in-cheek, and for that we love Mall of the Mainland.  Of the rather cartoon-like faux stores featured are a bike shop, camera store, and a sailing supply shop. We hope that the fake stores aren’t confusing any shoppers, most notably Nikki and Gloria who seem to think there’s so much to see and do here.  We’re guessing they might not get out much.

Jokes aside, the mall was built too big for its britches and cannot fill all its space due to competition from the super-regional Baybrook Mall less than 10 minutes up the road, as well as a lower-income residential base in Texas City and Galveston.  The people of Galveston and Texas City alone cannot support this large a mall and those who could prefer to drive a short distance farther to shop at Baybrook and further afield.  The pictures featured here were taken in April 2007.