Gosling Road and Woodbury Avenue
Newington, New Hampshire
The fifth shopping mall in the Granite State was built by a joint venture of Chicago's United States Gypsum Urban Development Company and Arlen Shopping Centers of New York City. Arlen was one of the predecessors of today's CBL Properties.
NEWINGTON MALL, a redevelopment of the NEWINGTON PLAZA strip center, was built on 61 acres, located 2.4 miles northwest of center city Portsmouth. The site was adjacent to the Spaulding Turnpike / US Route 4 freeway, whose initial segment had opened to traffic in 1956.
The fully-enclosed NEWINGTON MALL was implemented in four stages. A 1-level (60,000 square foot) J.M. Fields discount mart opened at the site on October 16, 1966. In 1973, this store was expanded to 90,000 square feet. J.M. Fields was joined by a 1-level (92,000 square foot) Montgomery Ward on September 27, 1973. The store included a Buffeteria snack bar and attached, 10-bay Auto Center. The Mod Shop men's wear section was promoted as "a place for the guy who wants to get it all together".
Ground had been broken for the mall being built between Field's and Wards on May 24, 1973. The complex, designed by Alvin Kargan of New York City, would span approximately 455,000 leasable square feet and contain sixty-one stores and services.
NEWINGTON MALL was officially dedicated on August 15, 1974. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by Governor Meldrim Thomson, Junior (R), Jay Solomon, Chairman of Arlen Shopping Centers, and Terry Armazeen, "Miss Portsmouth 1973". Ross Beard, Arlen District Manager, served as the Master of Ceremonies. Entertainment was provided by the Granite State Highlanders Pipe Band and Scottish Dancers.
Ten stores opened their doors. These included Radio Shack, So-Fro Fabrics, CVS, Field's Hosiery and You & You Levis. A third anchor, a 1-level (40,600 square foot), Portland, Maine-based Porteous, Mitchell & Braun, opened for business September 5, 1974. The mall was completed with the dedication of a (30,000 square foot) Shaw's supermarket, in September 1975.
The SBC Theatres Newington Mall Cine 1-2-3-4 was built as an eastern outparcel, adjacent to Montgomery Ward. The venue showed its first features in late 1977. In 1978, the mall's J.M. Fields was shuttered. The store re-opened as a Braintree, Massachusetts-based Bradlees.
The 4-plex movie house was acquired by the Hoyts Cinemas Corporation in 1987. It was expanded into an 8-plex venue. The next change at NEWINGTON MALL took place in 1992. Porteous, which had been expanded to 55,200 square feet, closed its doors for good.
Meanwhile, a formidable rival had come on the scene. FOX RUN MALL, built directly northwest of NEWINGTON MALL, had opened in February 1983. It encompassed 516,000 leasable square feet and housed over eighty stores. This complex provided more competition than NEWINGTON MALL could endure.
The closing of the adjacent Pease Air Force Base, in 1991, was another nail in the NEWINGTON MALL coffin. Its center anchor and supermarket sat empty for several years as more and more vacant stores lined the shopping concourse.
In late 1995, a demalling plan was announced that would leave the Bradlees and Wards stores standing and reconfigure the mall structure between them. A new power center, THE CROSSINGS AT FOX RUN, opened in 1996. In addition to the existing Bradlees and Montgomery Ward, the facility featured a newly-built Hoyts 12-plex cinema.
Montgomery Ward closed in October 1997; Bradlees went dark in December 2000. The vacant Ward's was demolished in the spring of 1998 and replaced by a (46,200 square foot) Best Buy and (25,000 square foot) Barnes & Noble. The old Bradlee's re-opened as a (94,500 square foot) Kohl's in the spring of 2002.
The Hoyts chain was acquired by the Knoxville-based Regal Entertainment Group in 2004. THE CROSSINGS AT FOX RUN cinema was expanded and reconfigured as the Regal Fox Run Stadium 15, which held a grand re-opening in the summer of 2007.
Most recently, the power center complex is known as simply THE CROSSINGS. It encompasses 474,200 leasable square feet and houses fifteen stores and services, with seven freestanding businesses. In addition to the aforementioned tenants, there are Michaels, Staples, Kitchen & Company and Old Navy. A (14,700 square foot) Trader Joe's opened on September 7, 2012.
Sources:
The Portsmouth Herald (Portsmouth, New Hampshire)
http://www.geocities.com / "Zayre88"
www.joneslanglasalle.com
http://www.thecrossingsatfoxrun.com
"Fox Run Mall" article on Wikipedia
