The new South Wing added 400,000 square feet to the mall, which now encompassed approximately 1,682,961 leasable square feet. There were 218 stores and services. With this renovation, WESTFIELD SOUTHCENTER was firmly entrenched as Greater Seattle's preeminent shopping center.
Drawing from www.westfield.com / The Westfield Group

The Cove entrance leads into The Valley, a Level 1 shopping concourse flanked by trendy boutiques. On Level 3 is a 16-screen AMC megaplex.
Photo from Wikipedia / "J Winters"

A view from inside The Cove entrance, with a portion of the Level 2 Dining Terrace in view.
Photo from Wikipedia / "J Winters"

Mervyn's store bid farewell to SOUTHCENTER in late 2006. The bulk of the first floor re-opened, as the aforementioned Seafood City, in 2010. The second floor was eventually leased as a Round 1 Bowling & Amusement Center. It opened for business in 2015.
Photo from http://www.seattlesouthside.com

On July 31, 2018, WESTFIELD SOUTHCENTER celebrated its 50th birthday. A 50-dollar-per-person Champagne Celebration was held, which included a beer, wine & champagne bar, hors d'oeuvres and live music. All proceeds were donated to a local charity.
Original graphic from https://www.westfield.com / The Westfield Corporation

SOUTHCENTER MALL
Strandler Boulevard and Andover Park West
Tukwila, Washington

The AlStores Realty Corporation (a division of Allied Stores) dedicated NORTHGATE CENTER in April 1950. It was the company's first Puget Sound shopping mall. Their second Puget Sound endeavor, TACOMA MALL, opened in October 1965. Planning for a third Seattle-centric shopping facility was underway by 1957.

Allied formed a subsidiary known as the Southcenter Corporation and purchased a 160-acre site, located 12 miles southeast of center city Seattle. The land parcel, annexed into the City of Tukwila in November 1957, would eventually be adjacent to a junction of the Interstate 5 and 405 expressways.

Construction commenced in March 1967. Like NORTHGATE CENTER and TACOMA MALL, SOUTHCENTER was designed by Seattle's John Graham, Junior. The fully-enclosed retail hub consisted of a single retail level and encompassed approximately 1,339,200 leasable square feet.

A Champagne Preview Showing was held on July 30, 1968, with the mall's official dedication taking place on the following day. The grand opening was attended by Daniel Jackson Evans (R) (Governor of Washington State). Anchoring SOUTHCENTER were a 4-level (265,000 square foot), Seattle-based The Bon Marche, 4-level (240,000 square foot) J.C. Penney, 2-level (70,000 square foot), Seattle-based Nordstrom Best and 3-level (170,800 square foot), Seattle-based Frederick & Nelson.

Among the mall's ninety-three charter stores were Richardson's apparel, Heidi's Chocolates, Tinder Box Tobacconist, Paris Hats, Florsheim Shoes, Friedlander's Jewelers, Pay 'n Save Drug and an (18,000 square foot) Lucky Stores supermarket. When fully-leased, SOUTHCENTER contained 110 stores under its roof. The complex, covering 1,339,200 leasable square feet,  was the largest mall in the Pacific Northwest and one of the largest in the United States.  

The United Theatres Southcenter Theatre was built as a northwestern outparcel of the mall. A first feature was shown on April 1, 1970. The venue, which was the final Cinerama-capable theater built in the United States, closed on August 5, 2001. It was demolished in 2002.

The first expansion of SOUTHCENTER consisted of the enlargement of the existing Nordstrom Best into a 3-level (165,900 square foot) Nordstrom, in 1973. Lucky Stores shuttered their SOUTHCENTER location in the mid-1980s. It re-opened, as a Gary's Market. This was shuttered in 1989 with its space being reconfigured as the 14-bay Rainier Food Court.

The next mall addition brought a 2-level (86,000 square foot) Mervyn's and twenty-store Northeast Wing. Mervyn's opened for business on October 25, 1992. Frederick & Nelson had been shuttered in May of the same year and was replaced by Sears. By this time, SOUTHCENTER MALL housed 157 stores and services.

Shopping hubs in the SOUTHCENTER trade area included SEA-TAC MALL (1975) {10 miles southwest, in Federal Way}, FACTORIA MALL (1975) {8.6 miles northeast, in Bellevue} and SUPERMALL OF THE GREAT NORTHWEST (1995) {10.9 miles south, in Auburn}.

SOUTHCENTER had been sold to Ohio's Richard E. Jacobs group in 1985. The company performed a mall-wide face lift during 1999. As part of the 6 million project, new flooring and skylights were installed and mall entrances rebuilt. In April 2002, Australia's Westfield acquired the mall. They renamed it WESTFIELD SHOPPINGTOWN SOUTHCENTER. The "Shoppingtown" reference was dropped in June 2005.

The Bon Marche had been rebranded as a Bon-Macy's on August 1, 2003. The store received a bona fide Macy's nameplate on March 6, 2005. A large-scale mall expansion got underway in May 2006. The 240 million dollar project added 400,000 square feet of new retail space. Seventy-five stores opened (or relocated from the existing mall), a 19-bay Dining Terrace replaced the existing food court and two parking garages were built.

The first South Wing facility to open for business, the American Multi-Cinema Southcenter 16, showed first features on July 18, 2008. The addition was officially dedicated on July 25th. Stores new to the mall included PINK, Love Culture, Gilly Hicks, White House Black Market, Mark Ecko Cut & Sew, Borders Books, a 2-level (25,000 square foot) H & M and 2-level (25,000 square foot) XXI Forever.

WESTFIELD SOUTHCENTER now encompassed approximately 1.7 million leasable square feet and contained 218 stores and services. With its early 2000s expansion, the mall was -once again- largest in the Pacific Northwest.

Mervyn's pulled out of WESTFIELD SOUTHCENTER in late 2006. A (44,000 square foot) section of the first floor was renovated by Pomona, California's Seafood City, a Filipino specialty grocer. Their new store held its grand opening on July 22, 2010. The second floor of the building was eventually reconfigured as a Round 1 Bowling & Amusement Center. It dedicated in July 2015.

Westfield's American and European property portfolio was merged into the holdings of Paris-based Unibail-Rodamco in June 2018. A new company, known as Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield was created. Westfield shopping centers in Australia and New Zealand were not included in the merger.

Sources: 

The Seattle Times
http://www.historylink.org
http://www.rejacobsgroup.com / Richard E. Jacobs Group (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
Southcenter brochure 1968 / Dale Evanson
Southcenter brochure 1970s / Arthur Allen
Southcenter brochure 1990s / Arthur Allen
http://www.westfield.com / The Westfield Group (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
https://www.westfield.com / The Westfield Corporation
http://www.retailwatch.com
http://www.reuters.com
"Westfield Southcenter" article on Wikipedia

Spokane's Northtown Center



A collection of logos used by the Lilac City shopping center during its early years. These were in use between the mid-1950s and late 1980s.
Graphics from Albertson's, Incorporated

A vintage postcard view of the original NORTHTOWN CENTER. The facility seen here was completed in 1955 and housed tenants such as W.T. Grant, Thrifty Drugs and an F.W. Woolworth 5 & 10.
Photo from Dexter Press

The original strip plaza covered only a small section of the Wellesley-Division-Queen-Lidgewood block. The spartan, single-level complex started out, in 1951, with a freestanding Albertson's Food Center (in black). With the mid-'50s addition (dark gray), the complex spanned around 216,000 leasable square feet.

We created a high-definition Complete Plan, which shows the names and locations of all twenty stores in the NORTHTOWN strip center, as of mid-1955. Five store spaces have yet to be leased.

The shopping strip was only 6 years old when a major expansion was announced. The project would enlarge the existing complex into an open-air mall anchored by Sears and The Crescent (Spokane's hometown department store).
Drawing from Albertson's, Incorporated

An early '60s plan shows a greatly expanded mall. The original Grants moved to new quarters in the new mall (in medium gray). The old store was demolished and replaced by The Crescent. A new Albertson's was also built adjacent to the original store (which is now a PayLess Drug). With these modifications, NORTHTOWN CENTER spanned around 650,000 leasable square feet and contained thirty-nine stores.

NORTHTOWN CENTER TENANTS 1962:

THE CRESCENT / SEARS (with Coffee House and attached Auto Center) / W.T. GRANT (with The Skillet restaurant) / F.W. WOOLWORTH 5 & 10 (with luncheonette) / Albertson's Food Center / Anita Shop / Bernard's for Ladies / Casey's Gay '90s restaurant / Crystal Cleaners / Denslow Linoluem Shop / Everybody's Department Store / Federal Finance Company / Fidelity Savings & Loan / Harvey's Fine Clothing for Men / Hill's Shoes / Hol 'N One Donut Shop / House of Fabrics / Joy Shop / Karmelkorn / Kay's Family Shoes / Klothes Kloset / Leed's Qualicraft Shoes / MacDonald Color Center / Marshall Hardware / Memory Lane Card Shop / Mode O'Day Frock Shop / Northtown Barber Shop / Old National Bank / Paris Hats / PayLess Drug / Pounder's Jewelry / Ray's House of Beauty / Rusan's for Ladies / Saad Brothers Shoe Repair / Savon's / Smith's Record Shop / Thom McAn Shoes / Thrifty Drugs / Zale's Jewelers

The Crescent, Spokane's hometown department store, anchored the northwest corner of NORTHTOWN CENTER. The chain was acquired by Chicago's Marshall Field & Company in 1969.

Graphic from Marshall Field & Company

In an interior view, we see the NORTHTOWN store's newly-redecorated Cosmetics Department.

Photo from Marshall Field & Company Annual Report 1973

In another interior view, we see The Crescent Northtown Young Spokane Shop.

Photo from Marshall Field & Company Annual Report 1970

NORTHTOWN was enclosed in 1983. Another major renovation was done between 1989 and 1991. Sears relocated to a new store. The original building was demolished, with Mervyn's, Penney's and Troutman's Emporium taking its place. An upper level of retail was also added. Although the ground floor depicted here is referred to as the "Lower Level" there is also a "Downstairs" floor beneath it. The complex now houses around 943,100 leasable square feet and 158 stores and services.

This store opened -in September 1962- as The Crescent. It was rebranded, by Seattle-based Frederick & Nelson, in August 1988. That chain folded in 1992. The Bon Marche acquired the building and opened a branch in July 1993. It morphed into a Bon-Macy's in 2003 and became a bona fide Macy's in March 2005.
Photo from Spokane County, Washington

Sears originally opened at NORTHTOWN in June 1961. The store moved into this newly-built structure in October 1989. It would be in operation for 30 years.
Photo from Spokane County, Washington

A southwest mall expansion was completed in the year 2000. Two sit-down restaurants opened in September. In November, Barnes & Noble, Nordstrom Rack and a Regal 12-plex made their debut. NORTHTOWN MALL now encompassed over 1 million leasable square feet and was the largest shopping mall in the Inland Northwest.

A newly-built Mervyn's began business at NORTHTOWN in 1991. The store closed in February 2007 and re-opened, as the Kohl's seen here, in October of the same year.
Photo from Spokane County, Washington 

The NORTHTOWN Queen Avenue Streetscape brought new casual dining restaurants, such as Outback Steakhouse, Bonefish Grill and Buffalo Wild Wings. These opened for business between June 2015 and February 2016.

Drawing from http://www.northtownmall.com

On a circa-2016 plan, the Queen Avenue Streetscape is shown in medium gray. In other sections of the mall, Marshalls and the Get Air trampoline park have filled vacant space. With these improvements, the shopping complex covers approximately 1,048,900 leasable square feet and houses 112 stores and services. Free parking is provided for 4,500 autos.   

The mall changed hands in August 2018, February 2022 and sometime in 2023. With the final transaction, it was owned by Summit Properties USA. An anchor exodus created two vacant stores. Sears pulled up stakes in 2019, with Macy's going dark in 2021. 

Photo from Wikipedia / Locke Cole

Graphic from https://www.northtownmall.com

NORTHTOWN CENTER
North Division Street / US 2 and 395 and East Wellesley Avenue
Spokane, Washington

Eastern Washington's first regional shopping center was built on a 34.4-acre city block, located 3 miles north of downtown Spokane. NORTHTOWN CENTER was developed by Boise's Joe A. Albertson. Its first store, a (30,000 square foot) Albertson's Food Center, opened on March 15, 1951.

A strip center of sixteen stores was built north of Albertson's. Its first operational tenants, Thrifty Drugs and Densow's Hardware & Electric, welcomed first shoppers on December 9, 1954. The completed strip plaza included Bell Northtown Furniture, Rusan's for Ladies, Everybody's Department Store, Harvey's Fine Clothing for Men & Boys and an F.W. Woolworth 5 & 10. A (25,000 square foot) W.T. Grant opened its doors on March 17, 1955.

In May 1960, a large-scale expansion of NORTHTOWN CENTER was announced, which would add four store block structures and reconfigure the shopping facility as an open-air mall. Construction was underway by mid-1960. A 1-level (123,000 square foot) Sears opened for business on June 21, 1961. Albertson's built a new store on the east wall of their original location. The new supermarket began business on October 19, 1961. PayLess Drug set up shop in the original supermarket space.

On March 29, 1962, new sections of NORTHTOWN CENTER were officially dedicated. The grand opening was hosted by Clair N. Jones (president of the Northtown Trade Association). In attendance were Joe A. Albertson, Earl D. McCarthy (developer of the shopping center) and Howard T. Ball (acting mayor of Spokane). As part of the festivities, an 18-foot-high center mall fountain was activated.

Entertainment was provided by the Angus Scott Pipe Band & Dancers, Yankee Doodle Dandies, Harmony Swells, Pages of Harmony Chorus and Spokane Barber Shop Quartet. Nineteen new stores joined the existing nineteen. Charter tenants included Thom McAn Shoes, Leeds Qualicraft Shoes, The Klothes Kloset, Zale's Jewelers, Bernard's for Ladies and the Hole 'N One Donut Shop. 

The northern section of the 1954 strip center -housing W.T. Grant and Bell Northtown Furniture- had been demolished. Grants moved into a 2-level (50,000 square foot) store on March 29, 1962. A 3-level (91,000 square foot), Spokane-based The Crescent was built. The Crescent was officially dedicated on September 6, 1962. When all construction dust settled, NORTHTOWN CENTER encompassed approximately 650,000 leasable square feet and housed thirty-nine stores and services. 

Grants was shuttered in 1976. Its area was sectioned into an enclosed, 2-level Mini-Mall. Housing sixteen stores and services, it opened in December of the same year. Original tenants included Mrs. K's Florsheim Shoes, Lyon's Apparel and the Fidelity Mutual Savings Bank. Eventually, the Mini-Mall would house Washington Photo, Roda Lee ladies' wear and R. Brown Antiques.

Work commenced on the full enclosure of the shopping complex on May 23, 1983. Metal canopies were removed from stores. New climate-controlled concourses were fitted with tile floors and skylights. The renewed retail hub, containing sixty-two stores and services, was dedicated in October 1983. It would be known, henceforth, as NORTHTOWN MALL.

By February 1989, Seattle's David Sabey had acquired the shopping center. Another major renovation was announced. This would add a second retail level, with ninety-six tenant spaces, and build four anchor stores. Two parking garages would also be constructed on the east side of the mall. The first phase of the project relocated Sears into a 2-level (160,400 square foot) store. This opened for business on October 1, 1989.

The old Sears was demolished to make way for three new anchors. A 2-level (140,800 square foot) J.C. Penney was dedicated on August 7, 1991. A 2-level (81,900 square foot) Mervyn's began business on October 16, 1991. A 2-level (68,700 square foot), Eugene, Oregon-based Troutman's Emporium (a.k.a. "The Emporium") opened its doors on October 17th. NORTHTOWN MALL now housed approximately 943,100 leasable square feet, with a tenant list of 158 retailers.

Competing shopping hubs in Greater Spokane included UNIVERSITY CITY MALL (1969) {7.2 miles southeast, in Spokane County-City of Spokane Valley} and SPOKANE VALLEY MALL (1997) {9.3 miles southeast, also in Spokane County-City of Spokane Valley}.

The first anchor rebranding at NORTHTOWN MALL transpired on August 1, 1988. The Crescent was rebranded as a Seattle-based Frederick & Nelson. This store was shuttered in early 1992. A deal was negotiated, with Fresno-based Gottschalks, to take over the vacant store. This fell through, as did a deal with Bellevue-based Lamonts. Eventually, Seattle-based The Bon Marche bought the building. They opened their NORTHTOWN store on July 28, 1993.

Salt Lake City-based JP Realty acquired NORTHTOWN MALL in August 1998. In July 1999, a 54 million dollar southeastern expansion got underway. This enlargement of the mall would cover space once occupied by the Albertsons-PayLess Drug structure, which had been demolished in the late 1980s.

Two junior anchors were built; a 1-level (26,500 square foot) Barnes & Noble and 1-level (26,300 square foot) Nordstrom Rack. These began business in September 2000. The Regal Northtown 12 multiplex, which occupied an upper level, showed first features on September 29, 2000. An adjacent parking garage had also been constructed.

The addition increased the gross leasable area of NORTHTOWN MALL to approximately 1,046,000 square feet. Its directory now listed 175 stores and services. Chicago's General Growth Properties acquired the assets of JP Realty in March 2002. As part of the transaction, NORTHTOWN MALL was added to the GGP property portfolio.

On August 1, 2003, stores in The Bon Marche chain were co-branded as Bon-Macy's. All received Macy's nameplates on March 6, 2005. In February 2007, the NORTHTOWN MALL Mervyn's closed. It was renovated and re-opened, as a Wisconsin-based Kohl's, on October 3, 2007. Nordstrom Rack closed on October 19, 2010. The space was renovated and opened, as a Massachusetts-based Marshalls, on March 8, 2012.

Troutman's Emporium had been sitting vacant since February 2003. Steve & Barry's University Sportswear moved in and held a grand opening in November 2006. This store went dark in December 2008. Calgary, Alberta's Wholesale Sports leased the lower level of the building and opened for business on July 20, 2012. This store was short-lived. It was replaced by the Get Air Trampoline Park in late 2014.

A renovation of the mall's northern (Queen Avenue) facade got underway in August 2014. 120,000 square feet of inline store space was demolished, with 63,000 square feet rebuilt as an exterior-entranced Streetscape of casual dining restaurants. Two "grand" mall entrances were also installed. Buffalo Wild Wings became the first operational Streetscape restaurant in June 2015. It was joined by Outback Steakhouse and Bonefish Grill in February 2016. As the new Streetscape was being created, the interior of the shopping complex was given a face lift.

Brookfield Property Partners, based in Hamilton, Bermuda, acquired a share of General Growth Properties in 2016. In August 2018, Brookfield established 100 percent ownership of the corporation. Hence, NORTHTOWN MALL became part of the Brookfield retail center portfolio. Brookfield flipped the shopping hub in February 2022, with Great Neck, New York's Kohan Retail Investment Group became its new proprietor. 

Kohan, in turn, flipped the property again. It was sold to Summit Properties USA. This entity is a subsidiary of Summit Properties, Limited, whose corporate headquarters is located on Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of Normandy, France. Although a "British Crown dependency," Guernsey is not part of the United Kingdom. Details are sketchy, but it appears that NORTHTOWN MALL changed hands sometime in 2023.
 
Sources:

The Spokane Daily Chronicle
The Spokesman Revue (Spokane, Washington)
The Seattle Business News
http://www.ggp.com / General Growth Properties (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
Spokane County, Washington tax assessor website
http://www.northtownmall.com (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
https://www.northtownmall.com
https://www.summit-properties.com
https://www.kohanretail.com
https://finance.yahoo.com
"Northtown Mall (Spokane) and "Guernsey" articles on Wikipedia