Phoenix finally opened a light rail system in December 2008. The 19.7
route mile, Valley Metro "starter line" connects the southeast and
northern environs of the city, with the station stop seen above (19th
Avenue & Montebello) accessing the CHRIS-TOWN SPECTRUM center.
Photo from Wikipedia / Lxnayonthetimmay"

CHRIS-TOWN MALL
West Bethany Home Road and North 19th Avenue
Phoenix, Arizona

Arizona's first enclosed shopping center -the ninth regional-class, interior mall in the nation- was built on an 86 acre tract, located 3 miles north of downtown Phoenix.

Originally known as CHRIS-TOWN MALL, the center was so named because the land had been previously owned by Chris Harri, a Swiss-born farmer.

The mall, designed by Welton Becket and Associates and developed by the Phoenix-based Del Webb Construction Company, was situated on a single level, with a small mezzanine at its center. The parking area had space for over five thousand three hundred cars.

CHRIS-TOWN opened August 24, 1961, with fifty-five inline stores. It was originally anchored by a 1-level (54,600 square foot) J.C. Penney, 2-level (146,100 square foot) Montgomery Ward and 2-level (103,100 square foot), Phoenix-based Korrick's.

There were also F.W. Woolworth and S.S. Kresge 5 and 10's, a Walgreen Drug, Hanny's men's apparel, Guggy's Coffee Shop and five shoe stores. The Chris-Town Theatre opened, as a southwest parking area outparcel, in 1967.

The mall proper was based around three attractively-appointed areas. J.C. Penney faced onto the Court Of Fountains, at the center of the complex. Montgomery Ward, at the mall's west end, opened onto the Court Of Birds, which featured several brightly-colored cages, suspended over an area of tropical foliage. On the east end, spanning Korrick's main entrance, was the lush, Court Of Flowers, with its sidewalk cafe.

In the late 1960s, the existing Penney's was expanded into an 89,600 square foot store. Korrick's, which had been rebranded as a Los Angles-based The Broadway in 1966, increased its floor space to 140,100 square feet.

The second enlargement of mall space was done as a reaction to the completion of a new megamall in the area. METROCENTER [August 2007 archive], 4 miles northwest, opened in October 1973.

Two new wings were added to CHRIS-TOWN, nearly doubling its leasable square footage. The Southwest Wing was anchored by a 2-level (149,800 square foot), Los Angeles-based Bullock's, which opened in 1975. The United Artists Cinema 6 was an Upper Level feature of the Southeast Wing.

The 1979 completion of PARADISE VALLEY MALL, located 8 miles northeast of CHRIS-TOWN, caused additional loss of sales. This resulted in a general decline of CHRIS-TOWN during the 1980s and '90s, with several long-time tenants vacating the center.

Bullock's closed in 1985, with its space being occupied by Dillard's. The Broadway, which came under the Phoenix-based Broadway Southwest banner in 1979, was vacated and torn down in 1994. A 1-level (125,000 square foot) Wal-Mart was built in its space, which opened in 1995.

J.C. Penney moved on in 1997. Its former store sat vacant until it was bulldozed and replaced by a 1-level (149,000 square foot) Costco in 2002. Montgomery Ward went bust in 2001. Its space was divided into four individual stores, one of which, Ross Dress For Less, opened in 2002.

The 40 year-old shopping center was given a 10 million dollar facelift in 2001, and renamed PHOENIX SPECTRUM. Still, the mall was in a state of decline. The floor area of the existing Wal-Mart was doubled -making the store into a 251,000 square foot SuperCenter- during a 2003 expansion. Dillard's moved out in 2004.

The entire 1,145,000 square foot mall complex was sold, in a joint venture, to Beachwood, Ohio-based Developers Diversified Realty and New York City-based Coventry Real Estate Advisors. The former owner, Phoenix-based Grossman Company Properties, retained a small share.

Plans to renovate the shopping venue -once again- were announced in 2006, with nearly half of the remaining, original mall structure being razed. The refurbished shopping center, christened CHRISTOWN SPECTRUM MALL, debuted in the summer of 2007.

New tenants included a 1-level (98,000 square foot) J.C. Penney and Harkins 14 multiplex. A 1-level (173,000 square foot) SuperTarget opened for business October 10, 2007.

The newest thing at CHRIS-TOWN these days is the Valley Metro 19TH AVENUE & MONTEBELLO light rail station, adjacent to the southwest parking area. It opened December 27, 2008.

Sources:

"Chris-Town / Phoenix Spectrum" article on Wikipedia
"Chris-Town Retrospective" website / John Bueker, webmaster
"Phoenix Spectrum Mall" article on Labelscar: The Retail History Blog
"Bullock's" article on Wikipedia
"Metrocenter Mall" article on Wikipedia
"Paradise Valley Mall" article on Wikipedia
http://www.valleymetro.org/