NUGGET MALL

Glacier Highway and Old Dairy Road
Juneau, Alaska

Alaska's oldest enclosed shopping center, THE MALL (now known as MIDTOWN MALL), opened in Anchorage in January 1968. The state's largest enclosed center, the 728,000 square foot DIMOND CENTER (also in Anchorage) opened in August 1977. The most upscale retail complex in the state would surely be 5TH AVENUE MALL, which has been in business, in Anchorage, since August 1987.

Closer to the Lower Forty-Eight, in the state's capital city of Juneau, is a little-known enclosed shopping center known as NUGGET MALL. The complex was developed by Bellevue, Washington's C.E. Loveless and Barclay Tollefson -of Loveless-Tollefson Properties- and Bill Flint of Juneau. It was built on a 12.1 acre tract, located 8.5 miles northwest of downtown Juneau, and was entirely within the city limits.

The political entity of The City and Borough of Juneau was formed in 1970 out of the merger of the existing City of Juneau, City of Douglas and Borough of Greater Juneau. The incorporated area of the city is larger than the states of Rhode Island or Delaware.

NUGGET MALL was originally anchored by a 1-level (13,000 square foot) Nugget Department Store, which opened for business November 1, 1974. By January 1975, tenants included Martha's Flowers, Kinney Shoes, Zales Jewelers, a Pizzazz restaurant and (17,000 square foot) Nugget Super Rexall.

Commercial competition arrived with the completion of MENDENHALL MALL {.7 mile northwest, in Juneau}, in 1977. This was joined by a Fred Meyer hypermarket {.5 mile southeast, in Juneau} in 1984.

In 1987, the Nugget Department Store downsized into a smaller mall space, and changed its name to the Nugget Men's Store. A 1-level (21,500 square foot) Bellevue, Washington-based Lamonts was also added to the East Wing of the mall. On the opposite end, Nugget Super Rexall had morphed into a Pay 'n Save and then PayLess Drug.

In late 1997, a face lift renovation of NUGGET MALL got underway. During this project, the north facade was rebuilt with new mall entrances. Updated lighting and signage were also installed on the interior.

By 1999, the drug store space in the West Wing was occupied by Jennings Home Furnishings of Juneau. In the East Wing, the Nugget Men's Store had enlarged into adjoining area and morphed into Nugget Alaskan Outfitter (a.k.a. "NAO").

Lamonts was shuttered June 25, 2000 and re-opened, as a Fresno-based Gottschalks, on September 7, 2000. This store was shuttered in July 2002, when it relocated to MENDENHALL MALL. Its vacant space at NUGGET MALL was temporarily leased to Jensen's Home Furnishings, who used it as a warehouse.

The West Wing furniture store was shuttered. The store space re-opened, as a Jo-Ann Fabrics, in March 2003. 4 years later, a formidable retail rival came on the scene. A (120,000 square foot) Wal-Mart SuperCenter {2.2 miles southeast, in Juneau} welcomed its first shoppers on September 12, 2007 (the store would be shuttered February 5, 2016).

The Lamonts / Gottschalks space at NUGGET MALL was renovated and expanded into adjoining area during 2011. An (11,300 square foot), San Diego-based Petco began business January 2, 2012, followed by a (16,900 square foot), Naperville, Illinois-based Office Max. These stores had exterior entries and were not accessible from the enclosed shopping concourse.

Nugget Alaskan Outfitter moved to MENDENHALL MALL in September 2013. Its store area, and twelve additional retail spaces, were reconfigured as a (27,800 square foot) Sportsman's Warehouse. A grand opening was held June 18, 2016. With all renovations accounted for, NUGGET MALL spanned 149,900 leasable square feet.

The original developers, C.E. Loveless and Barclay Tollefson, had both passed away by 2014. The mall ended up in a type of legal limbo, with no actual owner. Seattle-based Resource Transition Consultants was put in charge of the facility in 2015.

In April 2018, California's Aventine Development Services agreed to buy the mall, but backed out of the deal in June. Maintenance of the structure had been deferred for a number of years and several expensive repairs were needed. Resource Transition Consultants assumed ownership of the complex. They renovated the structure and prepared it for resale.

Sources:

The Juneau Empire

https://www.nuggetmalljuneau.com

http://www.mallmanac.com
www.juneaualaska.com / history
https://juneau.org (City & Borough of Juneau website)
www.dimondcenter.com
www.simon.com (5th Avenue Mall)
Sally Norgaard / Manager Mall Marketing  (5th Avenue Anchorage Mall)