CAPITAL CITY MALL
Hartzdale and Lower Allen Drives
Lower Allen Township (Cumberland County), Pennsylvania

Greater Harrisburg's first mall-type complex, the 353,000 square foot COLONIAL PARK CENTER, was completed in August 1960. Fast-forwarding fourteen years, we find that the third shopping mall in the metro area was constructed on a 54.9 acre plot, located 3.6 miles southwest of the Pennsylvania Statehouse.

CAPITAL CITY MALL, developed by the Johnstown-based Crown American Corporation, was dedicated in 1974. It encompassed a single retail level, 578,600 leasable square feet and approximately seventy-five stores and services.

The complex was originally anchored by a 1-level (101,400 square foot) Sears, 1-level (100,000 square foot), Harrisburg-based H.H. Bowman and 1-level (102,800 square foot), Mckeesport-based Murphy's Mart.

Charter tenants included York Steak House, Amity House Restaurant, Rea and Derrick (later Peoples) Drug, Radio Shack, Spencer Gifts and the exterior-accessed -but mall connected- Capital City Mall 6 Cinema.

Commercial competitors in the immediate vacinity included the aforementioned COLONIAL PARK CENTER (1960), 7.8 miles northeast, in Lower Paxton Township (Dauphin County); HARRISBURG EAST MALL / HARRISBURG MALL (1969), 5.5 miles northeast, in Swatara Township (Dauphin County) and CAMP HILL MALL (a circa-1959 strip center malled in 1986), .6 miles north, in Lower Allen Township (Cumberland County).

The first anchor conversion at CAPITAL CITY MALL involved the rebranding of Bowman's, by Allentown-based Hess's, in 1979. Murphy's Mart was shuttered and reopened, as a Rocky Hill, Connecticut-based Ames, August 15, 1987.

Meanwhile, the mall experienced its first physical expansion, with the addition of the 30,000 square foot, 9-bay, Garden Grove Food Court, in 1985.

The second enlargement of the shopping venue consisted of the addition of 20,100 square feet to Hess's. The store closed as a facet of its remodeling. It reopened, as an Arlington, Virginia-based Hecht's, October 2, 1995.

Ames, shuttered months before, was also renovated. It became a J.C. Penney on November 8, 1995. Sears was renovated during 1999.

The Crown American Corporation had been split into two entities during 1993. The first, dubbed the Crown American Realty Trust, managed the corporate portfolio of twenty-eight shopping malls. Crown American Hotels was involved in the hospitality industry.

In November 2003, the realty division was sold to the Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT). They announced a mall makeover for their CAPITAL CITY property in November 2004.

The cinema, shuttered December 19 of the same year, would be renovated into a 9-bay Food Court. A sit-down bistro, Garfield's Pub and Restaurant, would also be within the new culinary complex.

Moreover, existing mall space would be thoroughly updated. Inline tenants, such as Spencer Gifts and FYE, would be relocated, with new leasees, including Lady Foot Locker and Victoria's Secret, brought onboard.

In November 2005, the relocated Food Court came inline. The older complex, at the mall's Main Entrance, was gutted and refashioned into a Specialty Wing.

New tenants, Hollister Company, Wet Seal, Body Central and Forever 21 were joined by a second sit-down restaurant at the mall, Davenport's Italian Oven. These businesses came inline in the spring of 2006.

This happened in conjunction with the conversion of Hecht's into a Macy's. This was finalized February 1, 2006.

Today, the 608,600 square foot CAPITAL CITY MALL houses eighty-six store spaces, with nineteen kiosks. A 46,100 square foot Toys R Us, added as a northeastern outparcel during the 1985 renovation, is still in operation.

Sources:

"Capital City Mall" article on Wikipedia
www.shopcapitalcity.com
Comment post by Aaron
www.preit.com (Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust)
www.cinematreasures.com