SPRINGDALE PLAZA

Government Road (Airport Boulevard) and Interstate 65

Mobile, Alabama

 

The first regional shopping center in the Azalea City was built on a section of reclaimed wetlands. Portions of Wragg Swamp were drained in the mid-1950s, with a 45-acre section, located 4 miles west of downtown Mobile, being set aside for a prospective retail complex. SPRINGDALE PLAZA would be developed by Mobile's Delaney Realty Company.

News of a 1.5 million dollar department store, to be built for Mobile's C.J. Gayfer & Company, was announced in December 1958. The new Gayfer's would be the chain's second branch, following locations in downtown Mobile and Pensacola, Florida. It would be designed by Atlanta's John J. Hart firm and encompass 1 level and approximately 82,900 square feet.

SPRINGDALE PLAZA was originally an open-air, strip complex. It was officially dedicated on November 19, 1959. Among forty-six charter tenants were W.T. Grant, J.C. Penney, Elliot's Jewelry, Zales's Jewelers, Albright & Wood Drug, Singer Sewing Center, Metzger Brothers Store For Men, Weatherby & Wood Furniture Company, Sally's Bridal Salon, a Colony Cafeteria and Delchamps and National Stores supermarkets. Gayfer's held its grand opening in February of 1960.

The shopping hub became freeway-accessible on January 4, 1963, when a 6.8-mile section of Interstate 65, passing along the west side of the shopping center site, opened to traffic.

SPRINGDALE PLAZA served as a catalyst for the development of the western environs of Mobile. In August 1967, the fully-enclosed BEL AIR MALL {.2 mile south} was completed. This was followed by various retail establishments that lined both sides of Government Street Road (later known as Airport Boulevard).

By 1973, both SPRINGDALE PLAZA and BEL AIR MALL were in the throes of expansion. A new wing was being added to the south side of BEL AIR MALL (which would snatch J.C. Penney from SPRINGDALE PLAZA). As a countermeasure, a fully-enclosed East Wing was built at SPRINGDALE PLAZA.

Anchored by a 2-level (140,900 square foot) Montgomery Ward, the East Wing included approximately forty-five stores and services. Its American Multi-Cinema Springdale Cinemas 6 showed its first features on June 18, 1976. Following the completion of the East Wing, the shopping hub was officially known as SPRINGDALE MALL & PLAZA, with this eventually truncated to simply SPRINGDALE MALL.

In the early 1980s, store structures on the west end of the plaza were demolished. In August 1983, construction began on a 2-level (160,000 square foot), Jackson, Mississippi-based McRae's. The store held its grand opening in August 1984 and was the 14th store in the chain.

A new retail rival opened soon after. MOBILE FESTIVAL CENTRE {.6 mile southwest, in Mobile} held its official dedication in 1986. In October 1988, a (33,600 square foot) Toys "R" Us opened at SPRINGDALE MALL. This was created out of the northwest corner of Montgomery Ward, which had downsized into a Montgomery Ward Specialty Store.

By this time, demolition was underway on both sides of Gayfer's. The store had been enlarged in 1966 and 1976 and now encompassed 3-levels and 280,000 square feet. It became the Gayfers flagship. Simultaneously, a new section of enclosed mall, encompassing twenty-one store spaces, was built. 

This new West Wing connected Gayfers and McRae's. With the completion of all construction in November 1989, SPRINGDALE MALL encompassed approximately 926,300 leasable square feet and housed eighty stores and services.

Between the mid-1990s and mid-2000s, SPRINGDALE MALL would be reconfigured with various big box-type retailers. The first of these was created by merging four store spaces in the South Wing. A (23,600 square foot) Barnes & Noble opened in the spring of 1994. Next came a (16,000 square foot) Old Navy. It occupied two previous South Wing spaces and opened in the fall of 1996.

In September 1997, Chattanooga's CBL & Associates Properties acquired SPRINGDALE MALL and immediately announced a "redeveloping, remodeling and retenanting" of the complex. During this project, new flooring, mall entrances, skylights and landscaping were installed. Moreover, the official name of the shopping hub was shortened to simply SPRINGDALE.

A (26,000 square foot) Goody's Family Clothing was added during the remodeling. This store was dedicated in April 1998. At the same time, the six-plex theater was enlarged into the Carmike Springdale Cinemas 11. Six store spaces adjacent to Montgomery Ward were gutted, expanded and incorporated into a (24,100 square foot) Staples and (36,000 square foot) Linens 'n Things. 

Anchor rebrandings at SPRINGDALE began in October 1998, when the Gayfers store received a Dillard's nameplate. The Montgomery Ward Specialty Store shut down in early 1999, with its space leased by Burlington Coat Factory. Within a few years, Toys "R" Us would also close. Burlington Coat Factory then expanded into its space.

A new century brought more redevelopment. The western half of the West Wing was gutted and rebuilt into a (46,900 square foot) Best Buy, which opened in the fall of 2001. Dillard's closed their SPRINGDALE store in early 2003. It was demolished in 2004, along with the remainder of the West Wing and portion of the East Wing. A 1-level (139,500 square foot) Sam's Club opened in 2005.

CBL & Associates Properties sold SPRINGDALE in April 2006. The mall was purchased by a joint venture of Australia's Centro Properties Group and an American affiliate known as Galileo America. The assets of Centro were sold to New York City-based Blackstone Realty Partners in June 2011. A managing entity, known as the Brixmor Property Group, was created in September 2012.

By this time, several stores had come and gone at SPRINGDALE. McRae's was "Belked" in March 2006. Goody's shut down in early 2009, with a new Marshalls opening in its space in the fall of 2010. Barnes & Noble went dark in the summer of 2010, with Michaels taking its place in the fall of the same year. 

A vacant Linens 'n Things spot was taken by Big Lots, with the store opening in the fall of 2010. Best Buy and Old Navy closed their SPRINGDALE stores in January 2016 and moved to the new McGOWIN PARK power center {1.6 miles southeast, in Mobile}. Belk shuttered their SPRINGDALE store in September 2016. It re-opened in a vacant Sears at SHOPPES AT BEL AIR (which was a rebranded BEL AIR MALL).

By 2019, several new -or relocated- SPRINGDALE stores were in business. Burlington (Coat Factory) moved into the vacant Best Buy in the West Wing; downsizing their operation by nearly 89,000 square feet. The ground floor of the abandoned Belk was divided into five store spaces. 

Three of these were tenanted by a (20,000 square foot) Shoe Station, (18,300 square foot) Cost Plus World Market and (25,600 square foot) Bed Bath & Beyond. A (46,400 square foot) Conn's Home Plus opened for business, in a portion of the old Wards-Burlington building, on January 8, 2021.

Sources:

The Mobile Beacon & Alabama Citizen

The Mobile Journal

The Mobile Press-Register

The Gadsden Times

Springdale Gayfer's Store Co. versus DH Holmes Co., Ltd., 201 So.2d 855 (1967)

http://www.aaroads.com (AA Roads: The State Series)

http://flickrhivemind.net

http://www.delaneyinc.net

http://nreionline.com (National Real Estate Investor)

Annual Report 2013 Brixmor, LLC

http://brixmor.propertycapsule.com

"Springdale Mall" article on Wikipedia