Today's PLAZA plan. Pre-demolition structures are highlighted
in blue. The remainder were built between 2003 and 2005. The
complex encompasses around 263,000 leasable square feet.
Original drawing from www.ruhlcommercial.com


DUCK CREEK PLAZA
Middle and East Kimberly Roads
Bettendorf, Iowa

General Management Corporation's first shopping mall was an open-air complex. Known as DUCK CREEK PLAZA, it occupied a 24 acre plot, 1.4 miles northwest of the Central Business District of the "Quad City" of Bettendorf.

The single-level center was completed during 1960. A 1-level (60,000 square foot), Des Moines-based Younkers ["yunk-erz"] was its original anchor. Inline stores included Bishop's Buffet, Walgreen Drug and an Eagle's supermarket.

DUCK CREEK PLAZA became freeway-friendly with the completion of the Spruce Hills Drive / US 6-to-Kimberly Drive stretch of Interstate 74, which opened to traffic on September 2, 1971. In 1972, a Davenport-based Petersen Harned Von Maur opened a location in the center.

Fashioned out of several smaller stores within the mall, it was the first branch in the chain. It was also around this time that a fully-enclosed addition was built on the back side of the complex. This Northwest Wing included the Duck Creek Plaza Twin Cinema, Aladdin's Castle, and (multi-story) Bettendorf Bank and Trust.

For 13 years, DUCK CREEK PLAZA had been the only shopping mall in the Quad Cities region. This changed with the completion of NORTHPARK MALL (in Davenport) in 1973 and SOUTHPARK MALL (in Moline) in 1974.

In the early 1980s, the original, open-air part of DUCK CREEK PLAZA was enclosed. Also, its Eagle's supermarket was shuttered and replaced by a Framingham, Massachusetts-based Marshalls.

However, by the mid-1990s, the shopping center was in decline. Petersen Harned Von Maur (whose name had been shortened to simply Von Maur in 1989) was shuttered in 1999. This was followed by the closing of Younkers in January 2001.

Long since sold off by the corporation that developed it, DUCK CREEK PLAZA had been bought -for payment of its delinquent back taxes- in 1998.

In November 2001, its new owners, a joint venture of Chicago-based Dalan Development Corporation and the Daly Group Limited Liability Company, along with Davenport-based Ruhl and Ruhl Commercial Company, announced plans to demall the 41 year-old shopping center.

Demolition commenced in March 2003. The mall was taken down in stages, with the first segment razed being the Von Maur / Younkers portion and Northwest Wing. The bank building and cinema were left standing.

A 1-level (115,000 square foot) Home Depot was built, which opened in December 2003. Moreover, a new (28,200 square foot) Marshalls and new (14,000 square foot) Walgreen's were completed in March 2004.

Then, the old Marshalls / Bishops / Walgreen's section of the mall was bulldozed. This made room for a 1-level (63,700 square foot) Schnucks Fresh Foods...dedicated May 24, 2005. When fully complete, the new DUCK CREEK PLAZA comprised approximately 263,200 leasable square foot, with thirty-four tenant spaces.

The center was acquired by the Oakbrook, Illinois-based Inland Real Estate Group in November 2005.

Sources:

Comment post by Blaine
http://www.ggp.com/ (General Growth Properties)
http://www.dot.state.ia.us/
http://www.cinematour.com/
"Younkers" article on Wikipedia
http://www.thedalygroup.com/
http://www.ruhlcommercial.com/
http://www.inlandgroup.com/