East McDowell and North Scottsdale Roads
Scottsdale, Arizona
The sixth fully-enclosed shopping center in the Valley of the Sun was built by a joint venture of Russ Lyon, Junior and John L. Holmes (of Phoenix), Homart Development and Broadway-Hale Stores. LOS ARCOS MALL was designed by the Burke, Kober, Nicolais & Archuleta firm, of Los Angeles.
Ground was broken on October 1, 1968. The 42-acre mall site was located 11.4 miles east of the Arizona State Capitol, in suburban Scottsdale. A single-level shopping hub would be anchored by a 3-level (253,300 square foot) Sears and 3-level (156,000 square foot), Los Angeles-based The Broadway. These department stores became the first operational LOS ARCOS MALL tenants on October 20, 1969.
The official dedication of the 8 million dollar complex was held on November 21, 1969. The ceremony included a fireworks display and speech by Arizona's Secretary of State Wesley Bolin (D). Thirty stores opened for business at the dedication. By February of 1970, a total of fifty-three were in operation. When fully-realized, LOS ARCOS MALL encompassed approximately 576,600 leasable square feet.
Artisans from Guadalajara and Mexico City had been hired to decorate the mall's ornate Spanish Colonial interior. The most stunning creation, a stained-glass starburst, was crafted by Filipe Derflingher. It was suspended within an octagonal skylight over the Center Court of the complex.
Charter LOS ARCOS stores included Wallich's Music Room, Parklane Hosiery, The Tinder Box Tobacconist, Rob Roy restaurant, Hobo Joe's coffee shop, Julie's ladies' wear and Thom McAn Shoes.
The Dwight Harkins Los Arcos Theatre Cinema 2, a single-screen venue on a lower mall level, made its debut on December 17, 1969. It was operated in conjunction with the Dwight Harkins Tower Plaza Theatre Cinema 1, in Phoenix's TOWER PLAZA MALL.
LOS ARCOS MALL was expanded on just one occasion. The west corridor Sears entryway was enclosed and configured with fifteen small store spaces. This project, completed in November 1979, added 30,400 square feet to the mall's gross leasable area, which now stood at 607,000 square feet.
The complex was sold in July 1988. Its new proprietor, Chicago's Equity Properties & Development Company, initiated a face lift refurbishment in February 1989. Conducted in two phases, the renovation began with asbestos abatement and the installation of fire sprinklers. The mall's interior was then remodeled, with new lighting, skylights, tile flooring, seating areas and ceilings.
Phase two consisted of the installation of a Food Court, which was built in gutted mall space. This facility, dedicated in November 1989, included Pizza Hut Express, Taquitos Real, Twin Dragons Chinese, Golden Spoon Yogurt and a Dairy Queen Treats Center. New inline stores were also brought into the mall. These included J. Riggings, Limited-Express, Attivo Men's and Things Remembered.
Two major shopping hubs were in the LOS ARCOS MALL trade area. SCOTTSDALE FASHION SQUARE {3 miles north, in Scottsdale} was completed in 1961. FIESTA MALL {6.6 miles southeast, in Mesa} opened in 1979. SCOTTSDALE FASHION SQUARE was renovated and expanded during the 1980s and '90s and emerged as the preeminent mall in Phoenix's East Valley. LOS ARCOS MALL fell into decline.
Southern California's The Broadway chain had established a Phoenix-based Broadway Southwest division in April 1979. On July 24, 1992, a Broadway Clearance Center opened on the third floor of the LOS ARCOS Broadway store. Federated Stores' acquisition of Broadway Stores, in August 1995, did not bode well for the LOS ARCOS unit. While the majority of The Broadway and Broadway Southwest stores were converted to standard Macy's operations during 1996, the LOS ARCOS unit was simply shuttered.
In May 1996, LOS ARCOS MALL was nearly fully-leased, with only five vacant stores. However, the demise of The Broadway created a domino effect of store closings. On February 19, 1999, Sears moved to a former Dillard's at SCOTTSDALE FASHION SQUARE. LOS ARCOS MALL was left anchor-less and virtually abandoned. The final inline stores had been shuttered by late 1999.
Demolition of the abandoned Broadway building got underway on February 22, 2000. Sears was leveled in May. A Red Robin restaurant -at the northwest corner of the mall- was left standing, along with two banks. By 2002, all of these structures had also been razed.
As this was playing out, redevelopment of the mall site had become a heated and contentious issue. Arizona's Steve Ellman, co-owner of the Phoenix Coyotes National Hockey League franchise, had bought the failing mall in 1996, with hopes of building a new hockey arena on the property. This plan met with much community opposition and was eventually abandoned.
Ellman's second proposal was to build the 540,000 square foot LOS ARCOS TOWN CENTER, a power plaza that would have been anchored by Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and Lowe's. This plan went over with a resounding thud, as well.
The most controversial redevelopment scenario was put forward by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who proposed to erect a "tent city" prison on the site. Needless to say, the local citizenry was none too pleased with this plan.
Finally, in June 2004, a suitable proposal for reuse of the property was put forth. The Arizona State University Foundation purchased the site, with the intention of building SkySong, the Scottsdale Center for New Technology and Innovation.
The vacant site was sectioned into quarters by two thoroughfares; Skysong Boulevard (running west-east) and Innovation Place (running north-south). A 318,000 square foot Skysong first phase was implemented by a joint venture of Chicago's Higgins Development Partners, Peoria, Arizona's Plaza Companies, San Antonio's USAA Real Estate and Los Angeles' CB Richard Ellis.
This mixed-use, office, retail, residential and research facility would eventually consist of four components; Skysong 1, Skysong 2, a tent structure and multilevel parking garage. A formal dedication was held in the spring of 2007.
Sources:
The Arizona Republic
The Los Angeles Times
Mitch Glaser's mall memories / www.mitchglaser.com
Maricopa County, Arizona Tax assessor website
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.skysongctr.com
"Los Arcos Mall" article on Wikipedia
The Arizona Republic
The Los Angeles Times
Mitch Glaser's mall memories / www.mitchglaser.com
Maricopa County, Arizona Tax assessor website
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.skysongctr.com
"Los Arcos Mall" article on Wikipedia
