IVERSON MALL
Branch Avenue and Iverson Street
Prince George's County (Hillcrest Heights), Maryland

In retrospect, it appears that the Washington, DC region may have been somewhat slow in getting around to building a climate-controlled mall, especially when considering that Greater Baltimore, 30 miles north, had done so nine years earlier [see HARUNDALE MALL, January 2007 archive]. Be that as it may, DC did catch up -and open its first interior mall- by the mid-1960s.

IVERSON MALL, the first enclosed shopping center in the region, was built on a 9.3 acre tract, 1.1 mile west of the District of Columbia, in the unincorporated Prince George's County suburb of Hillcrest Heights.

The 526,700 square foot, 10 million dollar shopping center held its grand opening September 21, 1967 and included mall store space for seventy-seven tenants. There was also 100,000 square feet of office space within a 4-level tower at the front of the structure.

The mall had a unique design, in that it straddled the State Route 458 / Iverson Street Parkway, which divided it at midpoint. There was a three hundred and fifty car capacity parking garage along the rear, connecting into a bi-level mall concourse in front.

The Upper Level concourse stretched between two large anchor store spaces; the Lower Level concourse was divided into two sections by the Iverson Street tunnel, which passed underneath the mall structure.

Originally, IVERSON MALL was a regional shopping center, anchored by a 2-level (157,000 square foot) Montgomery Ward and 2-level (84,000 square foot), DC-based Woodward and Lothrop ["Low-thrup"].

However, soon after its opening, it was eclipsed by newer and larger enclosed shopping complexes, such as CAPITAL PLAZA (1970) and LANDOVER MALL (1972). Both of these were built 8 miles distant, in unincorporated areas of Prince George's County. Some degree of retail rivalry was also presented by the completion of FOREST VILLAGE PARK MALL (1980), also in unincorporated Prince George's County.

By the mid-1990s, IVERSON MALL's two anchor department stores had closed. Eventually, the center evolved into a local or neighborhood shopping center, with its two multi-level anchor spaces being divided into four.

The east anchor spot, formerly Woodward and Lothrop, was retenanted by Columbus, Ohio-based Value City apparel (upper level) and Value City Furniture (lower level). These stores were shuttered in 2008. They reopened, as a 2-level Burlington Coat Factory, in the fall of 2008.

The west anchor spot, vacated by Montgomery Ward, was leased to Philadelphia-based Forman Mills apparel (lower level) and Total Save (upper level).

IVERSON MALL celebrated its 40th year in business in 2007. It survived the retail upheaval of the previous twenty years and even eclipsed the CAPITAL PLAZA and LANDOVER malls, once its major competitors, which were torn down in the mid-2000s.

Today, the center is managed by Chevy Chase, Maryland-based H.R. Retail, Incorporated.

Sources:

http://www.iversonmall.com/
http://www.goprincegeorgescounty.com/
"Iverson Mall" article at http://www.labelscar.com/
"Capital Plaza Mall" and "Landover Mall" articles at http://www.deadmalls.com/
"Iverson Mall" Flyer / H & R Retail, Inc. / Chevy Chase, Maryland
"Iverson Mall" article on Wikipedia