PARKWAY CITY CENTER / MALL

South Memorial Parkway / US 231 and Drake Avenue Southwest

Huntsville, Alabama

The fourth shopping mall in Huntsville was a redevelopment of an open-air, strip-type complex. PARKWAY CENTER was built on a 34-acre plot, located 1 mile south of center city Huntsville. The venue was developed by Madison, Incorporated; a joint venture of Harry M. Rhett, Junior, F. Kenneth Nootin and Dr. Thomas Gibson {of Huntsville} and Lorraine Leland and Lester Dee, Junior {of Tuscaloosa}.

Twenty-five stores debuted during an official grand opening, which was held on March 14, 1957. As part of the festivities, Huntsville Mayor Robert Searcy fired a simulated rocket. Music was provided by the Huntsville High School Band, as clowns and trained dogs gave performances.

Charter stores at PARKWAY CENTER included a (37,300 square foot) G.C. Murphy 5 & 10, (15,000 square foot) McLellan's 5 & 10, (17,000 square foot) Kwik Chek supermarket, (15,000 square foot) National Foods supermarket and (10,000 square foot) Shainberg's. The 5 million dollar complex, which encompassed approximately 100,000 leasable square feet, was reputedly the only modern shopping center between Nashville and Birmingham.

By 1959, the shopping strip was being promoted as PARKWAY CITY CENTER. Between June and October, an open mall near the middle of the structure was expanded with five new businesses. At the same time, an anchor department store was being built on the north end of the site. Encompassing 1 level, the (76,100 square foot) Montgomery Ward opened for business on August 5, 1959.

A 2-level (75,000 square foot), Birmingham-based Pizitz was added to the south end of PARKWAY CITY. This store welcomed its first shoppers on October 31, 1963. Later on, the National Foods supermarket on the north end was reconfigured as a single-screen cinema. The United Artists Madison Theatre showed its first feature on December 8, 1967. The venue was expanded and re-opened, as the Madison Twin, on April 30, 1976.

Meanwhile, a tornado had torn into the strip plaza on April 3, 1974. South end stores were reduced to rubble. Chattanooga-based Arlen Real Estate (the precursor of today's CBL Properties) acquired the complex and renovated it into a single-level, fully-enclosed shopping center.

PARKWAY CITY MALL opened in February 1976. The retail hub encompassed approximately 414,500 leasable square feet. It was anchored by the aforementioned Montgomery Ward and Pizitz stores and 1-level (76,000 square foot) Birmingham-based Parisian. The G.C. Murphy 5 & 10 was now operating as a Murphy's Mart.

Competing shopping hubs in Huntsville were originally HEART OF HUNTSVILLE MALL (1961) {1 mile northwest} and THE MALL (1966) {2.2 miles northwest}. MADISON SQUARE {4.6 miles northwest} was dedicated in October 1984.

The Madison Twin at PARKWAY CITY MALL closed in August 1986. Its space became a junior anchor-sized, Birmingham-based Yielding's. This morphed into a Nashville-based Castner-Knott Home Store in 1997 and a Dillard's Home Store in 1998.

The retail hub had been renovated in 1984 and 1994. Over the course of 25 years, there were various anchor store changes. In 1987, the Pizitz chain was acquired, and rebranded, by Jackson, Mississippi-based McRae's. On December 31, 1997, Montgomery Ward was shuttered as part of a chain-wide downsizing. By this time, Parisian was operating Parisian Juniors and Parisian Woman specialty stores within the mall.

A joint venture of Chattanooga's CBL & Associates Properties and Birmingham's Colonial Properties Trust acquired the mall in 1998; this being the second time that the Tennessee company owned the retail hub.

PARKWAY CITY MALL was in an advanced state of decline after 14 years of competition from MADISON SQUARE. A plan to bulldoze the struggling shopping center was finalized. Its northwest parking garage would be retained as an all-new, fully-enclosed mall was built.

Demolition began, with the razing of the vacant Montgomery Ward, in the spring of 1999. The first phase of the new PARKWAY PLACE, a 2-level (167,000 square foot) Parisian, opened August 14, 2001. The official dedication of the mall was held October 16, 2002. It spanned approximately 615,400 leasable square feet and housed eighty-nine tenant spaces, with eight kiosks.

Parisian anchored the 2-level complex, along with a 2-level (181,000 square foot) Dillard's. PARKWAY PLACE, with toney tenants such as Williams-Sonoma, Ann Taylor and Hollister Company, was quickly established as city's most upscale shopping venue. In September 2006, Charlotte-based Belk acquired the Parisian chain. The PARKWAY PLACE store was expanded to 187,200 square feet and was Belk-branded on September 12, 2007.

The mall would soon face a new lifestyle-type rival. BRIDGE STREET TOWN CENTRE {4.7 miles northwest, in Huntsville} held its grand opening in November 2007. CBL & Associates Properties established 100 percent ownership of PARKWAY PLACE in October 2010. The mall now spanned 643,100 leasable square feet and housed ninety-seven stores and services.

Sources:

The Huntsville Times

Huntsville Revisited

http://wyrmis.livejournal.com / W. Doug Bolden

http://www.bridgestreethuntsville.com

http://www.southeastbusiness.com / "Retail Construction" / By Katie Foxworth

http://www.parkwaycitymall.com

http://www.birminghamrewound.com / Russell Wells

http://mallmanac.blogspot.com

http://hsvmovies.com / Evans Criswell

www.cblproperties.com / CBL & Associates Properties