EL CON CENTER
East Broadway and North Dodge Boulevards
Tucson, Arizona
Hotel El Conquistador, a grand, Spanish Revival structure, opened to much fanfare in November 1928. It was situated on the western half of a 93-acre plot, located 2.6 miles east of center city Tucson. Development of the eastern half of the site commenced in April 1959.
An open-air shopping center was built by a joint venture of John E. Papanikolas' Magna Investment & Development Corporation and Joseph Kivel's Kivel Interests of Tucson. Albert C. Martin & Associates, of Los Angeles, designed the 488,000 square foot complex.
The first operational store at EL CON CENTER was a 2-level (62,000 square foot), Tucson-based Levy's ["lee-veez"], which was formally dedicated on November 16, 1960. A branch of the First National Bank of Arizona was dedicated on February 1st, 1961. Montgomery Ward's 2-level (150,000 square foot) unit opened for business on February 2nd.
Seven inline stores were launched on August 24, 1961. These were House of Fabrics, Gallenkamp Shoes, Lerner Shops, Kinney Shoes, an El Rancho Market grocery, (15,000 square foot) F.W. Woolworth and (27,900 square foot) S.S. Kresge.
Nine stores opened their doors on November 2, 1961; Baker's Qualicraft Shoes, The College Shop, Daniel's Jewelers, Grunewald & Adams Jewelers, Mills-Touche men's wear, Nu-Art Photo Service, Skaggs Drug Center, Wohlfeiler's Shoes and David's Wetherby-Kayser Shoes. EL CON CENTER now featured nineteen stores and services. When fully-leased, the mall would house forty-two.
The adjacent hotel closed in 1964 and was razed in 1968. In its place, a new 2-level (193,300 square foot) Levy's was built. This store opened on September 15, 1969 and was expanded with a third level (to 290,000 square feet) in 1975. The original Levy's store, in the neighboring open-air center, re-opened, as a Tucson-based Steinfeld's, on March 27, 1971.
Meanwhile, a single-level, fully-enclosed mall was being built, which would be anchored by a 2-level (115,900 square foot) J.C. Penney. This store was dedicated on August 4, 1971, with its freestanding Penney's Auto Center opening for business on August 23rd. This new West Mall encompassed approximately 480,400 leasable square feet. Its first inline store, Florsheim Shoes, began business in February 1972. First National Bank relocated into the West Mall in May. Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour welcomed first customers in July 1973.
The adjacent (but separate) open-air complex was now promoted as the East Mall. It, and the enclosed West Mall, were operated as a single entity. In the mid-1970s, construction commenced on a second phase of the enclosed complex, which served to connect the two shopping centers. Encompassing 215,600 leasable square feet, the connecting section of mall was anchored by a 2-level (120,000 square foot), Phoenix-based Goldwaters, dedicated on August 14, 1978.
As the new section was being built, the existing East Mall mall was enclosed and climate-controlled. The amalgamated mall, which encompassed approximately 1,023,800 leasable square feet, held its grand opening on January 27, 1979. Among 124 stores and services were United Jewelers & Distributors, Showcase Cards, Wicks 'N Sticks, T-Shirts Etcetera, Musicland, B. Dalton Bookseller and Morrow's Nut House. The TM Theatres El Con 6 showed its first features on August 19, 1979.
The shopping hub had encountered its first competition with the completion of PARK MALL {2.7 miles east, in Tucson} in May 1975. THE TUCSON MALL {5.3 miles northwest, also in Tucson} opened for business in March 1982. FOOTHILLS MALL {9.7 miles northwest, in Pima County} was dedicated in August of the same year.
Steinfeld's became the first EL CON MALL anchor store to fold, on August 26, 1984. Its space was to sit vacant, being used, on an intermittent basis, as a Holiday Sharing Center for the needy. In November 1993, the space re-opened as the short-lived Pavilion at El Con Mall, which included a food court, farmer's market, bazaar and indoor street fair.
The next anchor alteration involved Levy's, which was rebranded by Dallas-based Sanger-Harris in September 1985 and Houston-based Foley's in July 1987. On February 2, 1997, the store morphed into a Los Angeles-based Robinsons-May. This was rebranded by Macy's, on September 9, 2006. Goldwaters became a Dillard's in September 1986. The Arkansas-based retailer pulled the plug on their EL CON MALL store on May 9, 2000.
By this time, much had changed at the mall site. The circa-1960 section, save for Montgomery Ward, had been knocked down in December 1998, taking a portion of the 1978 addition, including the shuttered El Con 6 cinema structure, along with it. The Century 20 At El Con Mall was built, which made its debut June 30, 1999. This was joined by a 1-level (123,200 square foot) Home Depot, dedicated in June 2001.
A Food Court and open piazza were installed between the new megaplex and existing J.C. Penney. Oddly enough, the Food Court was never utilized. Montgomery Ward at EL CON MALL shut down March 18, 2001. The building was bulldozed with ground broken, for a 1-level (125,000 square foot) Target, in November 2003. The store held its grand opening on July 25, 2004.
Another "anchor's away" took place in January 2008, with the shuttering of Macy's. This ended up providing a way for Wal-Mart to establish a presence at EL CON MALL...something they had been trying to do since 1999. At that time, a proposal for an EL CON Wal-Mart was met with so much community opposition that the city passed a Big Box Ordinance which temporarily stopped the Bentonville retailer from SuperCentering the mall.
A few years later, The City of Tuscon met with Wal-Mart behind closed doors and formulated a way to work around the Big Box Ordinance. A development plan was approved by the City of Tucson in June 2011, but construction was delayed by a lawsuit filed by a "Stop Wal-Mart" citizens group in November 2011. In the meantime, the owners of the property, Tucson-based MAS Real Estate Management, worked tirelessly to reposition the shopping complex. Its long term revitalization included a new Ross Dress for Less.
Outparcel structures were also been built along the front of the site, including Office Depot, Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill, Chick-Fil-A and In-N-Out Burger. Moreover, the Goldwaters / Dillard's, sitting vacant since 2000, was retenanted. Burlington Coat Factory renovated the building and opened a store, on its first level, March 5, 2010.
All legal hurdles for the construction of the EL CON WalMart were resolved in August 2012. Work on the 1-level (100,000 square foot) SuperCenter began in the fall of 2012, with its grand opening taking place September 11, 2013.
Real estate and sports entrepreneur Stan Kroenke acquired EL CON MALL in May 2014. At this time, the official name reverted to EL CON CENTER. Marshalls joined the retail roster, with a (23,000 square foot) store, on August 20, 2015. J.C. Penney, an EL CON tenant since 1971, shuttered their store in late 2020.
Sources:
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona)
The Tucson Citizen
http://www.ringbrothershistory.com
www.scribd.com/doc / "Arizona Movie Theaters"
http://www.labelscar.com
http://www.shopelconmall.com
http://pcasar.com
Pima County, Arizona property tax assessor website
www.insidetucsonbusiness.com
www.cinematreasures.org
"El Con Mall" article on Wikipedia
www.cinematreasures.org
"El Con Mall" article on Wikipedia
