East Camelback Road and North 20th Street
Phoenix, Arizona
The ninth major shopping complex in Phoenix was developed by a joint venture of the Harry Hilp Foundation (of San Francisco) and Rhodes Western, Incorporated (of Tacoma, Washington). EAST CAMELBACK MALL was designed by the Stiles & Clements and Chaix & Johnson firms of Los Angeles. It occupied a 37.6-acre tract, located 8 miles northeast of the Arizona State Capitol.
Phoenix, Arizona
The ninth major shopping complex in Phoenix was developed by a joint venture of the Harry Hilp Foundation (of San Francisco) and Rhodes Western, Incorporated (of Tacoma, Washington). EAST CAMELBACK MALL was designed by the Stiles & Clements and Chaix & Johnson firms of Los Angeles. It occupied a 37.6-acre tract, located 8 miles northeast of the Arizona State Capitol.
A 2-level (138,400 square foot) Sears was the first structure completed. It opened for business on May 23, 1962. Rhodes built a 2-level (138,400 square foot) store as a second freestanding building and was dedicated on May 3, 1963. These stores were connected by a single-level, twenty-store mall. Ground was broken soon after the dedication of Rhodes.
When completed, EAST CAMELBACK MALL included a 2-level (110,000 square foot) Britts department store as a junior anchor. A mall-wide grand opening was held on March 18, 1964. Charter tenants included Helsing Coffee Shop Victorian Restaurant & Cocktail Lounge, Foreman & Clark men's wear, Zale's Jewelers, Hessler's Stereo Center, an El Rancho Market grocery store and Thrifty Drugs.
Several shopping complexes had been built in the vicinity by the mid-1960s. These included CAMELBACK TOWN & COUNTRY VILLAGE (1958) {directly across North 20th Street} and BILTMORE FASHION PARK (1963) {2 blocks east, on Camelback Road}.
By late 1967, EAST CAMELBACK MALL was being promoted as SEARS-RHODES MALL. Phoenix-based Westcor, a major developer in Arizona's Valley Of the Sun, acquired the complex in the mid-1970s and performed a 6 million dollar renovation.
A tropical courtyard with cascading waterfall was installed and the name of the facility changed. It would be known, henceforth, as THE COLONNADE. A 1-level (80,000 square foot) Mervyn's opened on September 29, 1979, with a mall-wide dedication held on October 5th.
By late 1967, EAST CAMELBACK MALL was being promoted as SEARS-RHODES MALL. Phoenix-based Westcor, a major developer in Arizona's Valley Of the Sun, acquired the complex in the mid-1970s and performed a 6 million dollar renovation.
A tropical courtyard with cascading waterfall was installed and the name of the facility changed. It would be known, henceforth, as THE COLONNADE. A 1-level (80,000 square foot) Mervyn's opened on September 29, 1979, with a mall-wide dedication held on October 5th.
Britts had been shuttered by this time. Its ground level was sectioned into a mall concourse and inline stores, with its basement being reconfigured as Marshalls and Famous Footwear stores. The refurbished shopping center now encompassed approximately 686,400 leasable square feet, with a directory of sixty stores and services.
The first anchor rebranding took nearly 8 years to fully implement. Rhodes stores were acquired by Honolulu-based AMFAC-Liberty House in November 1969. A hyphenated name -Liberty House-Rhodes- appeared in the early 1970s. On August 8, 1977, the store became a bona fide Liberty House, which gave way to a San Antonio-based Joske's nameplate in 1978. The COLONNADE Joske's was shuttered in 1982.
In 1988, THE COLONNADE became Phoenix's third "freeway friendly" mall; this after the completion of the first segment of the Squaw Peak Parkway. This new thoroughfare bisected the shopping center site. It was renamed the Piestewa Freeway in 2003, in honor of Private First Class Lori Piestewa, the first Native American killed in battle on foreign soil.
Unfortunately, new freeway access had failed to halt the decline of THE COLONNADE. By the early 1990s, it was in a downward spiral. Westcor considered reinventing the center as an enlarged, fully-enclosed mall, but settled on a plan to demall the complex into a power center. They formed a joint venture with Chicago's Homart Community Centers.
Work commenced on the first phase of the 35 million dollar demalling in August 1993. Sears, vacant by this time, was divided into a (47,200 square foot) Best Buy, (15,400 square foot) Old Navy, (15,200 square foot) PetSmart and seven additional retail spaces. The Sears Garden Center and Auto Center were demolished.
A multilevel parking garage was built adjacent to the vacant Joske's. This store was also subdivided. Its upper level became leased office space, with the ground floor sectioned into a (20,300 square foot) Staples and (36,900 square foot) Marshalls, which relocated from the basement store.
The second phase demalling was underway by January 1994. A (64,500 square foot) Fry's Food & Drug was built onto the southeast corner of the complex. A 52,000 square foot section of the interior mall was also razed, with the remaining area being gutted and retenanted by big box stores such as Bed, Bath & Beyond and Michaels.
CAMELBACK COLONNADE was dedicated in the fall of 1994. In the following year, a Nordstrom Last Chance outlet store moved from MARYVALE MALL into the basement space that had been occupied by Marshalls.
Westcor merged with the Santa Monica-based Macerich Company in July 2002. In mid-2013, they sold CAMELBACK COLONNADE to Kansas City and Phoenix-based Red Development. The new owner remarketed the 693,500 square foot power center and found a permanent tenant for its Mervyn's, which had been vacant since December 2008. Atlanta-based Floor & Decor opened for business on October 2, 2014.
Sources:
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona)
Mitch Glaser's mall memories
Rhodes Western Annual Report 1962
https://www.mcassessor.maricopa.gov / Maricopa County, Arizona
http://www.arizonaroads.com
http://www.westcor.com (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
https://www.redevelopment.com
The second phase demalling was underway by January 1994. A (64,500 square foot) Fry's Food & Drug was built onto the southeast corner of the complex. A 52,000 square foot section of the interior mall was also razed, with the remaining area being gutted and retenanted by big box stores such as Bed, Bath & Beyond and Michaels.
CAMELBACK COLONNADE was dedicated in the fall of 1994. In the following year, a Nordstrom Last Chance outlet store moved from MARYVALE MALL into the basement space that had been occupied by Marshalls.
Westcor merged with the Santa Monica-based Macerich Company in July 2002. In mid-2013, they sold CAMELBACK COLONNADE to Kansas City and Phoenix-based Red Development. The new owner remarketed the 693,500 square foot power center and found a permanent tenant for its Mervyn's, which had been vacant since December 2008. Atlanta-based Floor & Decor opened for business on October 2, 2014.
Sources:
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona)
Mitch Glaser's mall memories
Rhodes Western Annual Report 1962
https://www.mcassessor.maricopa.gov / Maricopa County, Arizona
http://www.arizonaroads.com
http://www.westcor.com (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
https://www.redevelopment.com
