By the early '90s, Westminster's original shopping mall had been renamed THE PLAZA IN WESTMINSTER. A face lift renovation was performed and new "low lease rate" tenants signed.
Advert from the Colorado & Sante Fe Land Company
This push to reinvigorate the PLAZA mall was unsuccessful. The past its prime property was entirely demolished in 1997 and replaced by -you guessed it- an open-air power center. This Safeway-anchored facility, which covered around 104,000 leasable square feet, opened in late 1998.
Original drawing from Slate Asset Management
We close the visual section of our PLAZA write-up with two contemporary snapshots. Above, we see the Vasa Fitness gym that replaced a Safeway supermarket in August 2023.
Photo from www.loopnet.com
This view shows the north end of today's WESTMINSTER PLAZA. Visible inline stores include Sally Beauty Supply and the InTechgrity Automotive Excellence repair center.
Photo from www.loopnet.com
WESTMINSTER PLAZA
North Federal Boulevard / US 287 and West 72nd Avenue
Westminster, Colorado
Planning for this virtually forgotten Greater Denver shopping mall commenced in 1945. Denver's V.J. "Jack" Dunton, founder of the Dunton Realty Company, was building tract houses in Westminster. He acquired a 39-acre tract in Westminster; this parcel located 6.5 miles northwest of the Colorado Capital.
Originally, Mr. Dunton was going to build a housing plat and small strip center on the site. By 1950, he was advocating using the entire property for a major shopping complex. A land utilization study was done in 1952, which indicated that said site would be well utilized as a regional shopping center. In January 1957, the Dunton Realty Company announced plans for WESTMINSTER PLAZA. Jared Barnett Morse, of Denver, was hired to design the structure.
The F.W. Woolworth Company signed a lease, for a WESTMINSTER PLAZA store, on August 13, 1956. The J.C. Penney Company signed their agreement on December 12, 1957. King Soopers, under the auspices of J.S. Dillon & Sons Company, inked their lease on January 8, 1958, with Safeway Stores committing to a mall store on July 18th.
Ground was broken on August 28, 1958. Safeway opened a (25,000 square foot) store on June 24, 1959. The first operational WESTMINSTER PLAZA tenant, Safeway had been built as a southeastern outparcel of the main mall.
The official dedication of WESTMINSTER PLAZA commenced on November 5, 1959, with thirty-six functioning stores. Attending the grand opening were Mr. and Mrs. V.J. Dunton, Don Nelson (Mayor of Westminster) and several city and county officials. An invocation was given by Dr. Eugene E. Dawson. Mr. Dawson was representing Colorado Women's College, of which he was president. In October 1959, V.J. Dunton had awarded WESTMINSTER PLAZA to the educational institution, as an endowment.
Encompassing approximately 260,000 leasable square feet, the PLAZA was anchored by a 2-level (45,000 square foot) J.C. Penney, 2-level (45,000 square foot) King Soopers and 1-level (25,000 square foot) Safeway. Charter tenants included Gambles, Lerner Shops, Republic Drug and a 2-level (22,300 square foot) F.W. Woolworth 5 & 10.
A 1-level (110,000 square foot) Woolco discount mart was built as a mall shadow anchor. This store, constructed on a parcel located directly north of WESTMINSTER PLAZA, welcomed first shoppers on April 3, 1963.
The Midwest Theatre Corporation Plaza Twin Theatres was built in the northwest corner of the mall site. Noteworthy as the first twin cinema in Greater Denver, the 550-seat movie house opened on October 6, 1970. It was renovated and renamed Cinema 70, with a grand re-opening held on March 29, 1974.
Meanwhile, ownership of WESTMINSTER PLAZA had changed. In April 1972, the complex was sold to a joint venture of the Eaton-Jones Company, of Westminster, and First Plaza Company, of Lincoln, Nebraska. The new proprietors gave the PLAZA its first renovation. Structures were refurbished. It is likely (but not confirmed) that the PLAZA Penney's was remodeled at this time, with a new Helvetica font nameplate installed.
As part of the ongoing mall renovation, new tenants were signed, parking areas repaved and new landscaping installed. Four "tree lanes," of Hackberry and Hawthorne, now stood at the center of the north, south, east and west parking lot entrances. Moreover, Lower Level space, in the southeast corner of the complex, was reconfigured. An enclosed Arcade area was gutted and rebuilt as a new Gallery Mall. This included a Community Room, The Study restaurant & lounge and offices for the Westminster District 50 Chamber of Commerce. An official Gallery Mall grand opening was held in January 1973.
A small section of the North Mall had been enclosed by the late '70s. This project was completed at -or around- the same time that a major competitor was opening for business. WESTMINSTER MALL {2.4 miles northwest, in Westminster} encompassed only 320,100 leasable square feet when it was officially dedicated, in September 1977. However, the mall was expanded between 1985 and 1993, with its gross leasable area enlarged to a whopping 1,390,000 square feet.
WESTMINSTER PLAZA could not compete. A name change, to THE PLAZA IN WESTMINSTER, was done to try and keep the mall current. Likewise, freestanding restaurants and stores were built. These included Wendy's (1977), Skipper's (1984), Good Times drive-thru (1994) and Checker Auto Parts (1994). These measures failed to stop the mall's decline.
In the late 1980s, the Dallas-based Trammel Crow Company approached the City of Westminster with a mall redevelopment plan. This led to the creation of the Westminster Economic Development Authority (or WEDA), in 1987, and South Westminster Urban Renewal Area, in 1988. Eventually, the Trammel Crow plan was abandoned.
In May 1993, the Colorado & Sante Fe Land Company, of Broomfield, bought THE PLAZA IN WESTMINSTER. A face lift refurbishment commenced. Building exteriors were repaired and painted, with parking areas paved and new landscaping installed. The J.C. Penney building, vacant for several years, was to be rebuilt as the Crazy Horse Dance Hall & Saloon.
The renovation and repositioning was not an astounding success. By 1995, Dallas-based Hunt Properties was formulating a demalling plan. In 1997. the virtually vacant PLAZA was acquired by a joint venture of Hunt Properties and the Westminster Economic Development Authority. The entirety of the mall was demolished, leaving five outparcels standing.
A new power center, known as WESTMINSTER PLAZA, was built. Anchored by a (57,900 square foot) Safeway, the main shopping center structure covered 104,000 leasable square feet and housed sixteen store spaces. Charter inline tenants included Blockbuster Video, Radio Shack and GNC. New freestanding tenants were Megabank of Arapahoe County and a (14,000 square foot) Rite Aid Drug. Stores began opening in December 1998.
Safeway, which had operated in three different PLAZA stores since 1959, pulled up stakes in June 2022. Vasa Fitness renovated the building and opened for business on August 19, 2023. In November 2022, the power center had been acquired by a joint venture of Denver's CentrePoint Properties and the Dunton Commercial, Limited Liability Company, of Greenwood Village, Colorado.
Sources:
The Westminster Journal (Westminster, Colorado)
The Leader (Lafayette, Colorado)
The Broomfield Star-Builder (Broomfield, Colorado
Cervi's Rocky Mountain Journal (Denver, Colorado)
The Journal-Sentinel (Westminster, Colorado)
The Denver Post
https://www.westminsterco.gov / City of Westminster / Staff Report – WEDA 101 / November 2008
http://www.huntprop.com / Hunt Properties, Incorporated (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
https://milehighcre.com / Mile High CRE
