Interstate 410 / Loop 410 and Fredericksburg Road
Balcones Heights, Texas
San Antonio's first fully-enclosed shopping center, NORTH STAR MALL, opened for business in September 1960. The Alamo City's second enclosed retail center was dedicated one year later. WONDERLAND SHOPPING CITY was built on a 61-acre plot, located 8 miles northwest of the center city. The site, in suburban Balcones ["Bal-COHN-eez"] Heights, was adjacent to newly-opened sections of Interstates 10 and 410.
The bi-level complex was developed by a joint venture of the Handy Andy supermarket chain and San Antonio's Charles Lee Becker, under the auspices of the Community Realty Company. The mall was designed by Dallas' Jim Collier and the Chaix & Johnson firm of Los Angeles.
WONDERLAND SHOPPING CITY was an addition to an existing Handy Andy supermarket, which had opened in May 1959. A 3-day grand opening commenced on September 14, 1961. A 3,000-foot ribbon, which encircled the outside of the mall, was cut with the world's largest pair of shears.
Prizes were awarded as part of the festivities. Winners of a "Words for Wonderland" contest received anywhere from 5 to 50 dollars. Two weekend get-aways, at the Sandy Shores Motel in Corpus Christi, were also given out. The grand prize was a year's worth of groceries, supplied by Handy Andy.
In its original state, the SHOPPING CITY spanned approximately 584,300 leasable square feet and housed forty-two stores and services. A 2-level (149,000 square foot) Montgomery Ward was the primary anchor. Other major stores were the aforementioned (66,000 square foot) Handy Andy, a (43,000 square foot) F.W. Woolworth 5 & 10, (19,500 square foot) Winn's variety store and (12,000 square foot) Hutchins Brothers.
Charter inline stores included Cinderella Cake Shoppe, Ann & Tom Browne Toys, El Cafe Mexicano, Frederick's Beauty Salon, German Hi-Fi Imports, Platter Palace records and Sommers Drugs.
In March 1963, ground was broken for a second anchor store. Rhodes added a 3-level (131,000 square foot) unit to the southeast corner of the complex. Its first floor housed a covered parking deck, with a glass-enclosed elevator -and escalators- transporting shoppers to the 2-level store above.
An official dedication was held on February 14, 1964. WONDERLAND SHOPPING CITY now encompassed approximately 615,300 leasable square feet. There were sixty-three stores. The Interstate Theatres Wonder Theater was built, as a northeast outparcel of the mall proper. It showed a first feature on November 23, 1966.
By the mid-1970s, Rhodes Wonderland was operating under a Liberty House-Rhodes banner. It received a bona fide Liberty House nameplate on August 8, 1977. It was rebranded, as a San Antonio-based Frost Brothers, in 1980.
Commercial competitors of the WONDERLAND mall included NORTH STAR MALL (1960) {3.5 miles northeast, in San Antonio} and INGRAM PARK MALL (1979) {6 miles southwest, also in San Antonio}.
Dallas-based Lehndorff USA (a.k.a. the L & B Group) acquired WONDERLAND MALL in September 1977. A 7 million dollar, indoor-outdoor face lift was completed in 1980. In order to keep the complex competitive, a more involved renovation was being planned by 1985. RTKL Associates, of Dallas, were hired to draw up plans to reconfigure the shopping hub. Construction commenced in the spring of 1986.
During the 28 million dollar project, a vacant Woolworth was gutted. Its space became part of a new wing -known as the Palm Pavilion- that extended to a 1-level (38,800 square foot), Florida-based Stein Mart. Beneath Stein Mart were a 7-bay Food Court and Santikos Crossroads 6 multiplex. First features would be shown on December 18, 1987.
The mall-wide refurbishment included the installation of new lighting, graphics, skylights and tile flooring. Montgomery Ward was given a new facade and a parking garage was built in the mall's western periphery. The remodeling was completed in November 1987, when the official name was changed to CROSSROADS OF SAN ANTONIO. The complex had grown from 615,300 leasable square feet to 697,000. Pre-renovation, there had been 2,021 parking spaces. Now there were 3,063.
The new & improved mall was successful for a short time, but was nearly half vacant by 1990. Frost Brothers, a major trip generator, had pulled up stakes in 1989. The complex was -then- reinvented as a value-oriented facility. Burlington Coat Factory opened, in the old Rhodes-Frost Brothers space, in 1991. Other new CROSSROADS tenants included County Seat Outlet, 50 Off and Vantage Shoe Warehouse.
Phar-Mor Drug expanded a vacant Handy Andy space, adding 20,000 square feet. The pharmacy began business in 1990 but closed in 1992. Hobby Lobby filled the vacancy in early 1994. Montgomery Ward closed in March 2001. In February 2002, 75,000 square feet of the abandoned Wards was demolished. What remained of the store's lower level was reconfigured as the (25,000 square foot) Norris Convention Center, which was dedicated in November 2004.
A 1-level (175,000 square foot) Target "Super T" was built on a portion of the old Ward's space and was dedicated on March 9, 2003. This store, a "shadow anchor," was a part of the mall structure but did connect into its shopping concourse. As Target was being built, the mall's Lower Level 6-plex was renovated. The Santikos Bijou Cinema Bistro, a 6-screen venue with dine-in seating, showed first features on July 25, 2003.
The complex was acquired by an affiliate of Midland, Texas' Red Oak Realty in 1997. The Dallas-based Trammell Crow Company bought it in 2004. In early 2009 it was sold to Crossroads Mall Partners, Limited, a consortium of San Antonio-based investors. They initiated a 10 million dollar renovation in 2010.
This included installation of new "Alamo motif" entryways, painting of the mall's facade, and interior upgrades, such as soft seating areas, a children's play area, a (40,000 square foot) Mercado Marketplace and state-of-the-art video system. As part of this renovation and repositioning, the shopping center was given a new name on January 14, 2010. It would be known, henceforth, as WONDERLAND OF THE AMERICAS.
Sources:
The San Antonio Express & News
Rhodes Western Annual Report 1963
http://www.labelscar.com / "Prange Way"
City-Data Forum / "San Antonio Crossroads Mall"
http://www.mysanantonio.com
"Crossroads Mall (San Antonio) Slide show-1987" / Mark Langford
"Crossroads of San Antonio" Project Reference File / Urban Land Institute / January-March 1994
http://www.crossroadsofsanantonio.com (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
https://www.wonderlandamericas.com
https://www.cinematreasures.org
https://bexar.trueautomation.com / Bexar County, Texas CAD