CORAL RIDGE MALL

'Coral Ridge Mall' is an enclosed super-regional shopping mall located just south of Interstate 80 in Coralville, Iowa. The mall's primary trade area includes Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, and other parts of eastern Iowa.^[3] It is managed by General Growth Properties.
The mall has a total floor area of 1,187,097 square feet (110,285 m²), with a gross leasable area of 979,415 square feet (90,991 m²). It also features a 1,000-seat food court with Wi-Fi internet access, a 10-screen movie theater complex, a large "antique" carousel, a children's play area, the Iowa Children's Museum, and an NHL regulation-sized ice rink. While the ice rink is primarily used for public skating, the University of Iowa's IceHawks hockey team plays most of its home games there.
Coral Ridge Mall's anchor stores are Sears, Dillard's, JCPenney, Younkers, Target, and Best Buy, which is attached to Target but not accessible from the rest of the mall. Other major tenants include Abercrombie & Fitch, Barnes & Noble, Old Navy, and Scheels All Sports. The outlying areas of the mall feature several restaurants, including Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and Chili's. Other outparcels include Pier 1 Imports, a John Deere retailer, a Holiday Inn Express, a Sears Auto Center, and a BP gasoline station and convenience store. A strip center called "Coral Ridge Market" is located across from the mall, and features restaurants such as Outback Steakhouse, N.Y. Deli, Panchero's Mexican Grill, and Cold Stone Creamery.

Contents

History

Anchors & Majors

References

External links

History

Coral Ridge Mall opened on July 29, 1998, with 100% of its floor space leased. It attracted one million visitors in its first 30 days and continues to attract roughly 10 million visitors a year.^[4] It also spawned additional retail development at the interchange of I-80 and the former Iowa Highway 965, now known as Coral Ridge Avenue. Big-box stores such as Kohl's, Lowe's, Dress Barn, and a Wal-Mart SuperCenter have opened in the years following Coral Ridge's opening.
When Coral Ridge Mall was planned, Iowa City business owners were concerned that the mall would take business away from them. While taxable sales in Coralville increased from $171.2 million in 1998 to $314.6 million in 1999, sales in Iowa City increased from $701.1 million to $733.3 million in that same period.^[5] However, a 2000 report by Iowa State University economics professor Kenneth Stone stated that 18 eastern Iowa counties lost over $120 million in retail sales to Johnson County in Coral Ridge's first year.^[6][7] Several malls in eastern Iowa, including Old Capitol Mall in downtown Iowa City and Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids, saw an increased number of store closings after Coral Ridge Mall opened.^[8] Most of Coral Ridge Mall's anchors, except for Younkers and Dillard's, relocated from other shopping centers in the Iowa City area; Younkers ran two stores in Johnson County before closing its Old Capitol Mall store in January 2005.
Coral Ridge Mall was built in a tax increment financing district. ''The Des Moines Register'' reported on August 13, 2006, that the city of Coralville was using the $7 million in property taxes generated by the mall to pay off long-term debts on a new hotel and convention center instead of using it for local services.^[9]

Anchors & Majors

★ Barnes & Noble (22,075 sq. ft.)

★ Coral Ridge 10 Screen Theater (26,416 sq. ft.)

★ Dillard's (128,700 sq. ft.)

★ Ice Arena (29,783 sq. ft.)

★ JCPenney (85,280 sq. ft.)

★ Old Navy (16,380 sq. ft.)

★ Scheel's Sporting Goods (105,000 sq. ft.)

★ Sears (98,600 sq. ft.)

★ Target (122,000 sq. ft.)

★ Younkers (100,000 sq. ft.)

References

1. Store Directory General Growth Properties
2. Coral Ridge Mall Site Plan General Growth Properties
3. Coral Ridge Mall Average Household Income Map General Growth Properties
4. Five Years Later, Coral Ridge Thriving Tamara Meester (Accessed via Newsbank 2006-08-16)
5. City of Iowa City 2005 Community Profile: Retail and Wholesale Trade City of Iowa City, Iowa
6. Analyzing the Economic Impact of a Super-Regional Shopping Mall in Central United States Stone, Kenneth E., and Artz, Georgeanne M.
7. Mall drains cash from 18 counties Heather Woodward
8. Major malls: Good or bad for Iowa? Joe Gardyasz
9. Mall revenue lets city go shopping Donnelle Eller

External links

★ Coral Ridge Mall web site

★ Coral Ridge Ice Arena

★ Iowa Children's Museum