Showing posts with label James Rouse's Malls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Rouse's Malls. Show all posts
James Rouse (1914-1996), a major mid-century mover and shaker, was instrumental in the creation of the American shopping mall...a concept that was copied around the world.
Photo from Maryland Historical Society Library
A newspaper ad from July 1939 entices Baltimoreans to consult the newly-formed Moss-Rouse Company for all of their financing needs.
James Rouse served in the Naval Air Force during World War II. After the conflict, he returned to Baltimore and the mortgage business and quickly expanded services from financing single-family dwellings to funding the construction of apartment complexes and strip shopping centers.
The first retail complex financed by Moss-Rouse was built in the northeastern environs of Baltimore City. The FREEDOM SHOPPING CENTER opened in March 1952, with tenants such as Martal's Department Store, Eddie's Supermarket, Jean's Modiste Dress Shop and a Ben Franklin 5 & 10.
A list of malls developed by James Rouse & company between the mid-1950s and late 1990s, with some being joint ventures. Those indicated in green have been inducted into the Mall Hall of Fame.
Photo from Maryland Historical Society Library
BANKING BUSINESS
James Wilson Rouse was born -in Easton, Maryland- on April 26, 1914. He attended classes at the Tome School, Port Deposit, Maryland, University of Hawaii at Manoa and University of Virginia at Charlottesville.
Rouse was employed by the Federal Housing Administration in 1935. In 1937, he received a law degree from the University of Maryland. In April 1939, Rouse joined with Hunter Moss and McKenny W. Egerton. They incorporated the Moss-Rouse Company, a mortgage banking concern.
James Wilson Rouse was born -in Easton, Maryland- on April 26, 1914. He attended classes at the Tome School, Port Deposit, Maryland, University of Hawaii at Manoa and University of Virginia at Charlottesville.
Rouse was employed by the Federal Housing Administration in 1935. In 1937, he received a law degree from the University of Maryland. In April 1939, Rouse joined with Hunter Moss and McKenny W. Egerton. They incorporated the Moss-Rouse Company, a mortgage banking concern.
A newspaper ad from July 1939 entices Baltimoreans to consult the newly-formed Moss-Rouse Company for all of their financing needs.
Advert from the Moss-Rouse Company
James Rouse served in the Naval Air Force during World War II. After the conflict, he returned to Baltimore and the mortgage business and quickly expanded services from financing single-family dwellings to funding the construction of apartment complexes and strip shopping centers.
The first retail complex financed by Moss-Rouse was built in the northeastern environs of Baltimore City. The FREEDOM SHOPPING CENTER opened in March 1952, with tenants such as Martal's Department Store, Eddie's Supermarket, Jean's Modiste Dress Shop and a Ben Franklin 5 & 10.
CORPORATE CREATION
James W. Rouse & Company was incorporated -from the previous Moss-Rouse Company- in 1954. The new endeavor was involved in mortgage banking and real estate research.
Graphic from James W. Rouse & Company, Incorporated
In March 1954, Rouse bought out his partners and reorganized the business under the heading James W. Rouse & Company, Incorporated. In December 1956, Rouse established a joint venture with Baltimore builders Jack Meyerhoff, Harry Bart and Albert Stark. A new company -Community Research & Development, Incorporated- would build, own and operate shopping centers.
MALL METAMORPHOSIS
Rouse's first mall-type retail hub was developed in the northwestern environs of Baltimore City. Rouse & Company considered building the 2-level MONDAWMIN CENTER as a fully-enclosed structure but, according to Rouse, "we lost our nerve." The open-air mall was officially dedicated on October 4, 1956.
HARUNDALE MALL, the first shopping complex built under the auspices of Community Research & Development, opened on October 1, 1958. This time around, a fully-enclosed complex was constructed.
In the mid-1960s, James W. Rouse & Company and Community Research & Development merged into a single corporate entity. A new concern, known as simply The Rouse Company, emerged in June 1966. This agency developed shopping malls in the Eastern United States and Texas during the 1960s, '70s and '80s.
Rouse's first mall-type retail hub was developed in the northwestern environs of Baltimore City. Rouse & Company considered building the 2-level MONDAWMIN CENTER as a fully-enclosed structure but, according to Rouse, "we lost our nerve." The open-air mall was officially dedicated on October 4, 1956.
HARUNDALE MALL, the first shopping complex built under the auspices of Community Research & Development, opened on October 1, 1958. This time around, a fully-enclosed complex was constructed.
In the mid-1960s, James W. Rouse & Company and Community Research & Development merged into a single corporate entity. A new concern, known as simply The Rouse Company, emerged in June 1966. This agency developed shopping malls in the Eastern United States and Texas during the 1960s, '70s and '80s.
ROUSE-DEVELOPED MALLS:
1. MONDAWMIN CENTER, Baltimore City, MD (October 1956)
2. HARUNDALE MALL, Anne Arundel County, MD (October 1958-May 1999)
3. CHARLOTTETOWN MALL-OUTLET SQUARE-MIDTOWN SQUARE, Charlotte, NC (August 1959-September 2005)
4. NORTH STAR MALL, San Antonio, TX (September 1960)
5. CHERRY HILL CENTER-CHERRY HILL MALL, Camden County, NJ (October 1961)
6. THE MALL-MALL ST. MATTHEWS, Saint Matthews, KY (March 1962)
7. NORTHWAY MALL-SHOPPES AT NORTHWAY-THE BLOCK NORTHWAY, Allegheny County, PA (August 1962)
8. GREENGATE MALL, Westmoreland County, PA (August 1965-July 2001)
9. PLYMOUTH MEETING MALL-PLYMOUTH MEETING, Montgomery County, PA (February 1966)
10. SALEM MALL, Montgomery County, OH (October 1966-November 2004)
11. EASTFIELD MALL, Springfield MA (April 1968-June 2023)
12. ALMEDA MALL, Houston, TX (October 1968)
13. NORTHWEST MALL, Houston, TX (October 1968-December 2021)
14. WILLOWBROOK MALL-WILLOWBROOK, Wayne, NJ (September 1969)
15. ECHELON MALL-VORHEES TOWN CENTER, Camden County, NJ (September 1970)
16. WOODBRIDGE CENTER, Middlesex County, NJ (March 1971)
17. FRANKLIN PARK MALL-WESTFIELD SHOPPINGTOWN FRANKLIN PARK-WESTFIELD FRANKLIN PARK-FRANKLIN PARK MALL, Toledo, OH (July 1971)
18. HIGHLAND MALL, Austin, TX (August 1971-April 2015)
19. MALL IN COLUMBIA, Howard County, MD (August 1971)
20. PERIMETER MALL, DeKalb County, GA (August 1971)
21. EXTON SQUARE MALL, Chester County, PA (March 1973)
22. PARAMUS PARK, Paramus, NJ (March 1974)
23. TAMPA BAY CENTER, Tampa, FL (August 1976-October 2002)
24. GALLERY AT MARKET EAST-FASHION DISTRICT PHILADELPHIA, Philadelphia, PA (August 1977)
25. HULEN MALL, Fort Worth, TX (August 1977)
26. AUGUSTA MALL, Augusta, GA (August 1978)
27. BEACHWOOD PLACE, Beachwood, OH (August 1978)
28. GOVERNOR'S SQUARE MALL-GOVERNOR'S SQUARE, Tallahassee, FL (August 1979)
29. SANTA MONICA PLACE, Santa Monica, CA (October 1980)
30. WHITE MARSH MALL-WHITE MARSH, Baltimore County, MD (August 1981)
31. BURLINGTON CENTER MALL-BURLINGTON CENTER, Burlington County, NJ (August 1982-January 2018)
32. THE GRAND AVENUE-SHOPS OF GRAND AVENUE-THE AVENUE, Milwaukee, WI (August 1982)
33. OWINGS MILLS MALL-OWINGS MILLS, Baltimore County, MD (July 1986-September 2015)
34. OVIEDO MARKETPLACE-OVIEDO MALL, Oviedo, FL (March 1998)
NOTE: Festival Marketplaces and other mixed-use-type projects are not included on this list.
UTOPIAN UNDERTAKING
Rouse's first endeavor in urban planning, Baltimore City's mixed-use Village of Cross Keys, was completed in September 1965. 3 years before, the company had started a series of clandestine property purchases in Howard County, 13 miles southwest of downtown Baltimore.
News of an entirely new city was announced in October 1963. The self-contained suburb, to be known as Columbia, was to occupy 14,000 acres. It would feature housing, employment, shopping, schools, health care facilities and interfaith churches. Careful planning, it was said, would consolidate and regulate its development and eliminate racial, economic and religious segregation.
The first of Columbia's ten Utopian-type villages, Wilde Lake, was dedicated on June 21, 1967. The centerpiece and commercial core of the planned city, MALL IN COLUMBIA, opened for business on August 2, 1971.
Rouse's first endeavor in urban planning, Baltimore City's mixed-use Village of Cross Keys, was completed in September 1965. 3 years before, the company had started a series of clandestine property purchases in Howard County, 13 miles southwest of downtown Baltimore.
News of an entirely new city was announced in October 1963. The self-contained suburb, to be known as Columbia, was to occupy 14,000 acres. It would feature housing, employment, shopping, schools, health care facilities and interfaith churches. Careful planning, it was said, would consolidate and regulate its development and eliminate racial, economic and religious segregation.
The first of Columbia's ten Utopian-type villages, Wilde Lake, was dedicated on June 21, 1967. The centerpiece and commercial core of the planned city, MALL IN COLUMBIA, opened for business on August 2, 1971.
DECLINING DOWNTOWNS
Mr. Rouse's next endeavor would be an attempt to revive center cities that had been decimated by Post-War suburbanization. His first "festival marketplace" was dedicated in Boston in August 26, 1976. FANEUIL ["Fan-yul"] HALL MARKETPLACE, an urban renewal redevelopment of an eighteenth century public market, was an astounding success. Other marketplaces and downtown shopping malls followed.
ROUSE'S RETIREMENT
James Rouse stepped down from the presidency of the Rouse Company in 1979, although he retained chairmanship on its Board of Directors. From this point, his life became dedicated to promoting the urban renewal concepts so close to his heart. Bill Clinton awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Mr. Rouse in September 1995. He passed away on April 9, 1996.
James Rouse stepped down from the presidency of the Rouse Company in 1979, although he retained chairmanship on its Board of Directors. From this point, his life became dedicated to promoting the urban renewal concepts so close to his heart. Bill Clinton awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Mr. Rouse in September 1995. He passed away on April 9, 1996.
Columbia, Maryland's People Tree, a symbol of community spirit, was used in the logo for the original MALL IN COLUMBIA. The artwork was created by Pierre du Fayet.
Photo from Wikipedia / David Levinson
A statue in Columbia commemorates James W. Rouse (on the right) and his brother Willard. The work was sculpted by William F. Duffy.
Photo from Wikipedia / Jeff Kubina
Sources:
The New York Times
The Washington Post
The Baltimore Sun
The Philadelphia Inquirer
https://www.smithsonianmag.com / "James W. Rouse's Legacy of Better Living Through Design" / Smithsonian Magazine / Jimmy Stamp / April 2014
http://columbia50.hocomojo.org / "Columbia's Fiftieth"
The Rouse Company Annual Report 1999
https://preservationmaryland.org / "James Rouse's Vision for Columbia, Maryland" / May 2017
https://www.hbs.edu / "James W. Rouse Rouse Company 1939-1979" / Harvard Business School /
"James Rouse" Article On Wikipedia
Rouse Malls:
Baltimore's Mondawmin Center
MONDAWMIN ["mun-dah-min"] CENTER was the first major shopping hub developed by mall maven James Rouse. It was also the first mall-type complex built in Maryland. The facility was named after Mondamin, a Native American deity mentioned in "The Song of Hiawatha," a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Graphic from the James W. Rouse Company
Graphic from the James W. Rouse Company
Sears built a 3-floor store at MONDAWMIN CENTER. It opened for business as part of the mall's October 1956 dedication.
Drawing from Sears, Roebuck & Company
The MONDAWMIN Sears included a freestanding Auto Center and Service Station. This anchored the east end of the complex for 16 years.
Drawing from Sears, Roebuck & Company
Before Sears stores incorporated Coffee House cafes, they often featured a Peggy Kellogg Snackette.
Graphic from Sears, Roebuck & Company
Lerner Shops, one of forty-seven charter MONDAWMIN tenants, operated a 21,000 square foot store.
Drawing from the James W. Rouse Company
Center Court at MONDAWMIN CENTER. Lerner Shops can be seen in the distance, on the left side of the photo. In the foreground is the mall's iconic circular stairway and duck pond. The 2 levels of a G.C. Murphy 5 & 10 may also be seen on the right.
Photo from www.ggp.com / General Growth Properties / Francis DiGennaro
MONDAWMIN CENTER was a tri-level facility of 490,000 leasable square feet and an eventual fifty-eight stores. The parking area of the 15 million dollar complex could accommodate 4,000 autos. The mall featured two supermarkets, which were situated beneath a parking deck on its west end.
MONDAWMIN CENTER TENANTS 1956:
SEARS (with Peggy Kellogg Snackette and freestanding Auto Center) / G.C. MURPHY 5 & 10 (with luncheonette) / FOOD FAIR supermarket / PENN FRUIT supermarket / A.A. Mending Shop clothes repairs / A.S. Beck Shoes / Adolf's Beauty Shop / Albert's Hosiery / Arundel Ice Cream / B & B Liquors / Benton's Tweed Shop / Bond Clothes / Bowen & King Opticians / Buddy Dale Millinery / Burdell Jewelers / Castelberg's Jewelers / Central Savings Bank / Century Shoe Repair / Charley Rudo Sporting Goods / Doubet Silverware & Gifts / Elite Laundry & Dry Cleaning / Fan & Ann Beauty Shop / Fidelity-Baltimore National Bank & Trust Company / Fox's children's apparel / Interiors By Zaid / Jimmy Wu's Carry-Out Shop / Junior Whirl, Incorporated junior fashions / Lerner Shops ladies' wear / Loft's Candies / Mayflower Fashion Shop / National Shirt Shops / National Shoes of New York / The NewsMart / One-Hour Valet / Oppenheim Collins ladies' wear (with Beauty Salon) / Remington's Book Stores / Rogers Toy Shop / Ruby's Knit & Tot Shop / Sa-Lee Dress Shops / Seaboard Finance / Silber's Bakery / Singer Sewing Center / Slenderella Figure Salon / Stebbins Anderson hardware / Sun Ray Drug (with Ranch Room Restaurant) / The Cotton Shop ladies' wear / Thom McAn Shoes / White Coffee Pot Cafe / Wyman Shoes / Zepp Photo Supply Company
The original open-air mall was rebuilt into a fully-enclosed one during 1963. Above we see a newspaper advert, published in September, which announced the grand opening of the "new" MONDAWMIN, the "seventh wonder of Baltimore." Note the reference to eternal spring.
Advert from the James W. Rouse Company
Traveling forward in time 20 years, we see a trainset on "Bawlmer's" Metro subway. The heavy rail transit line began revenue service in November 1983 and included a station adjacent to MONDAWMIN MALL.
An early 2000s interior view shows the mall's iconic Center Court, fountain and circular staircase. Over the course of several renovations, said staircase has never been removed.
Photo from www.ggp.com / General Growth Properties
By the early 21st century, the aging MONDAWMIN MALL was due for a structural update. A 68 million dollar remodeling was proposed in 1999.
Drawing from www.ggp.com / General Growth Properties
The project got underway in early 2007 and was completed in the summer of 2008.
Drawing from www.ggp.com / General Growth Properties
Drawing from www.ggp.com / General Growth Properties
Above and below are two aerial views of the mall. Here we see the retail center before the 2007-2008 renovation got underway.
Photo from www.ggp.com / General Growth Properties
This image shows the mall in the midst of reconstruction. The parking garage on the left side of the center, which was added during an early '80s remodeling, has been razed. A new Target is being built in its place.
Photo from www.ggp.com / General Growth Properties
A post-renovation layout of MONDAWMIN MALL, showing its new stores and reconfigured parking areas. The remodeling brought Target, as well as a Shoppers Food & Pharmacy grocery and A.J. Wright Family Apparel. This store went dark as a result of the 2011 shuttering of that chain. Marshalls assumed the vacant space, but not for long. Planet Fitness opened a new gym there in 2019.
Meanwhile, that venerable Minnesota merchandiser shuttered its MONDAWMIN store in early 2018, ending nearly 10 years of operation. The building was gutted in late 2022 and reconfigured as the TouchPoint Empowerment Center.
Graphic from https://www.target.com
MONDAWMIN CENTER
Gwynns Falls Parkway and Reisterstown Road
Baltimore (City), Maryland
Gwynns Falls Parkway and Reisterstown Road
Baltimore (City), Maryland
Maryland's James W. Rouse Company was instrumental in the development of the state's first mall-type shopping complex. The center was built by the Mondawmin Corporation; a joint venture of Rouse and Baltimore's Harry Bart and Alexander Brown Griswold.
Ground was broken on a 46-acre plot, located 3 miles northwest of Baltimore's center city, on July 12, 1955. Formerly encompassing the Brown family estate, the site was developed as the 490,000 square foot MONDAWMIN CENTER. The mall moniker had been derived from a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem about "Mondamin," the Native American spirit of the cornfields. Cartographers charting the city of Baltimore and its neighborhoods mistakenly added the w.
In the mid-1950s, a suburban-type shopping center located so near to a downtown core was quite a novel concept. James Rouse would later dub it "urban renewal." His open-air shopping facility was designed by Pietro Belluschi, Dan Kelley and Baltimore's Fisher, Nes, Campbell & Associates firm.
MONDAWMIN CENTER was a 3-level structure with Concourse, Lower and Upper floors. The Concourse housed 30,000 square feet of office space and included a service tunnel. The Lower floor included two supermarkets; both situated beneath a parking deck on the mall's west end. A portion of a Sears store was also beneath a section of the Upper Level Parking area.
An official dedication was held on October 4, 1956, with forty-seven operational stores. In attendance were James Rouse, Theodore R. McKeldin (R) (Governor of Maryland) and Thomas D. Alesandro (Mayor of Baltimore).
The original mall was anchored by the 3-level (189,500 square foot) Sears. Major stores included a (40,000 square foot) Penn Fruit supermarket, (33,000 square foot) Food Fair supermarket, (17,000 square foot) Oppenheim Collins and 2-level (35,000 square foot) G.C. Murphy 5 & 10. There were also Bond Clothes, Lerner Shops, National Shirt Shops, Sun Ray Drug and the White Coffee Pot Cafe.
Retail rivals included WESTVIEW CENTER (1958) {4.4 miles southwest, in Baltimore County}, REISTERSTOWN ROAD PLAZA (1962) {3.5 miles northwest, in Baltimore (City)} and SECURITY SQUARE MALL (1972) {4.8 miles west, in Baltimore County}.
It took nearly 3 years for all fifty-eight tenant spaces to be leased. Nonetheless, MONDAWMIN CENTER was a successful venture by the late 1950s. The open-air complex was reconfigured as a fully-enclosed structure in the early 1960s. An official re-dedication was held on October 2, 1963. Following this event, the complex was often promoted as simply MONDAWMIN.
The Rouse Company sold its interest in the mall in the mid-1960s. Sears pulled up stakes in February 1973. As a result, several other national chains bolted. The vacancy rate soared. As this store exodus was playing out, the vacant Sears was reconfigured as Metro Plaza, a 37-tenant mall within a mall. Pollack-Blum Furniture dedicated a (23,000 square foot) Metro Plaza store on May 6, 1974. Other tenants included Lee's Outdoor, True Value Hardware, Earl of Sandwich, the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration and a relocated Central Savings Bank.
Still, the mall struggled. By 1977, MONDAWMIN was 25-percent vacant. The Rouse Company was hired to manage and retenant the shopping hub in December 1979. For this, the company was given 50-percent ownership in the facility.
A turnaround was soon underway. Nineteen new stores were signed, including Circus World Toys, Music Liberated, Waldenbooks, Mill Discount Fabrics and the Signature Hair Care Salon. The retenanting was capped off by the dedication of Baltimore's initial Charles Center-to-Reisterstown Plaza Metro system, on November 21, 1983. The 7.6 route mile subway included a station stop in the parking lot of the shopping center.
Rouse had acquired the 189,000 square foot Metro Plaza in December 1982. A 1.3 million dollar interior renovation was done to to the mall and Plaza in 1985. New flooring, skylights, landscaping and seating were installed. Moreover, the exterior of the complex was resurfaced and parking areas repaved.
By 1986, MONDAWMIN MALL and Metro Plaza were 97-percent leased. They rode a wave of success throughout the 1980s. However, by the late 1990s, the Mall and Plaza were -once again- in a downward spiral. The Rouse Company proposed a second redevelopment in 1999, but this never got off the ground. With the 2004 purchase of The Rouse Company, by Chicago-based General Growth Properties, MONDAWMIN was added to the GGP portfolio.
General Growth revived plans for a mall renovation, with construction getting underway in early 2007. The existing structure was refitted with widened mallways and glass entrances. New lighting, flooring, signage, restrooms and exterior landscaping were also installed.
The 68 million dollar project added three new stores. A (67,000 square foot) Shoppers Food & Pharmacy was dedicated on November 17, 2007. A 1-level (127,000 square foot) Target held its grand opening on July 23, 2008. Lastly, a (22,000 square foot) A.J. Wright welcomed first shoppers on August 8, 2008. MONDAWMIN MALL now encompassed 700,000 leasable square feet and contained 118 stores and services under its roof.
A.J. Wright was shuttered, along with the chain, in February 2011. Marshalls, another TJX Companies division, opened in the space on March 17, 2011. Target shuttered their MONDAWMIN store on February 3, 2018, followed by Marshalls, which went dark on January 12, 2019.
The vacant Marshalls morphed into a Planet Fitness gym in the summer of 2019. The Target space was reconfigured as the TouchPoint Empowerment Center, which opened in 2023. This facility provided local residents with tutoring and mentoring, workforce development and catering and events space. Moreover, retail area was established for local entrepreneurs.
Brookfield Property Partners, based in Hamilton, Bermuda, had acquired a share of General Growth Properties in 2016. In August 2018, Brookfield established 100 percent ownership of the corporation. Hence, MONDAWMIN MALL became part of the Brookfield retail center portfolio.
Sources:
The New York Times
The Baltimore Sun
The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland)
http://www.therousecompany.com (Website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
http://www.baltimorestyle.com / "From Hope to Heritage: The Story of Mondawmin" / Jamie Michael Kendrick / Maryland Transit Administration / April 2002
http://www.ggp.com / General Growth Properties
http://www.stevenswain.blogspot.com
http://www.mtamaryland.com
https://pay.baltimorecity.gov / Baltimore City
https://www.pressreader.com
https://www.wbaltv.com
https://www.villagemondawmin.com
https://touchpointbaltimore.org/empowerment-center
"Mondawmin Mall" and "Baltimore Metro Subway Link" articles on Wikipedia
Baltimore's Harundale Mall
The James W. Rouse company's second major shopping complex was built on the southern outskirts of Baltimore. Its name, HARUNDALE, was derived from the old Anglo-Saxon phrase "dale of the swallows." In fact, the original mall logo (seen above) included a graphic representation of one of the birds.
The James W. Rouse company's second major shopping complex was built on the southern outskirts of Baltimore. Its name, HARUNDALE, was derived from the old Anglo-Saxon phrase "dale of the swallows." In fact, the original mall logo (seen above) included a graphic representation of one of the birds.
Graphic from the Community Research & Development Corporation
HARUNDALE MALL opened, in October 1958, with a 2-level, Hochschild-Kohn; the fifth location in the Baltimore-based chain. This store was in operation until late 1984, when it was rebranded as a Baltimore-based Hutzler's.
The HARUNDALE Food Fair, which anchored the southeast corner of the complex. The store was rebranded as a Pantry Pride (a discount Food Fair division) in December 1969.
United States Senator John F. Kennedy (D) cut the ceremonial ribbon during the October 1, 1958 dedication of HARUNDALE MALL.
Photo from Wikipedia / "Spartan7W"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
