THE MALL AT 163RD STREET

'The Mall at 163rd Street' is a regional shopping center located in North Miami Beach, Florida. From its opening, it has transitioned from an open-air shopping center to enclosed mall, dead mall, and finally a power center/enclosed mall combination. It was the first mall in the United States to use Teflon-coated fabric as a roof.

Contents

History

Open-air Center

Enclosed Mall

Dead Mall

Power Center

External links

History

Since opening in 1956, The Mall at 163rd Street has gone through a number of changes.

Open-air Center

The mall was originally called "The 163rd Street Shopping Center". It opened with three major anchors: Burdines, Richard's Department Store, and JCPenney. Additionally, there was a large F.W. Woolworth and a Food Fair (later Pantry Pride) supermarket. Another major tenant was the M & M Cafeteria. All the stores were arranged around a long, wide, outdoor main plaza. There was a separate section with a Rhodes Furniture and two movie theaters. In 1971, Jordan Marsh opened a four story department store.
There was a small indoor section called "The Arcade" with a racetrack layout. Additionally, the wing leading to the supermarket was under a flat roof, though still exposed to the elements at either end.
One unique feature of this mall was that it had its own miniature amusement park. It was located in the mall's center court area in front of Burdines. Containing mostly kiddie rides, the amusement section was encircled by a train ride. The amusement park closed in the late 1970s.

Enclosed Mall

From 1982 to 1983, the mall was converted from an open-air center to a climate-controlled enclosed mall. This was accomplished by erecting large metal arches over the main plaza, and then placing a white, translucent, Teflon-coated fabric over them. The Richard's (which closed chain-wide in 1980) was gutted and converted to a three level atrium, the upper level of which became a food court. The upper level also included a video arcade. In addition, the mall's weathered concrete sidewalks were re-graded and tiled, while the Arcade section was redeveloped into conventional inline stores. It was at this time the mall was renamed Mall at 163rd Street, though the mall's transformation was often called "Miracle on 163rd Street."
A number of development changes took place while it was an enclosed mall. The first took place in 1983, when J.C. Penney moved to the newly-opened Aventura Mall. Unable to lure a new tenant, the Penney space was carved up into six specialty-store spaces, while its basement became an Oshman's sporting goods store. The second was in 1984, when the Pantry Pride closed with the chain. The supermarket was replaced with a Service Merchandise, with a minor reconstruction to create a mall entrance from the store. The third and most significant change involved the third-level food court, which was closed due to a lack of significant foot traffic. The food court gradually relocated downstairs to the second floor of the atrium, while the third floor had most of its floor space filled back in and converted to a Marshalls. An extra-long escalator was installed to shuttle shoppers directly up to the third floor Marshalls.

Dead Mall

From the late 1990s to 2005, the mall became classified as a dead mall. The three main factors characteristic of dead malls were all present: a newer, bigger mall opening nearby, changing neighborhood demographics, and closure of several of the mall's key anchors.
The decline of the mall began in 1991 when Jordan Marsh closed. While a Mervyn's department store took over the lower two floors of the four story structure, it would close just a few years later. But the biggest hit took place in 1999 when both Service Merchandise and Woolworth's closed with their respective chains. Burdines closed a year later with the opening of a new store at Aventura Mall. During this time, the neighborhood had experienced a demographic change as the more affluent population moved northward. Increases in the crime rate led the mall to build a fence around the property. Vacancies increased throughout the late 1990s, until eventually only the Marshalls remained open.

Power Center

The conversion of the mall to a power center began in 2000, when the exterior section with the movie theater was demolished and replaced with a Home Depot. But the real change to the center began in 2004, when the Jordan Marsh, its adjoining parking structure, and about 1/3rd of the mall were completely demolished and replaced with a Wal-Mart Supercenter. The remaining mall was reworked to include "big-box" stores, including Office Depot and Ross Dress for Less. In early 2007, there was a Ross and a few independent "mom and pop" stores inside the mall as well as a small food court. Also in 2007, a Steve & Barry's University Sportswear will open.

External links

★ Deadmalls.com feature