Montgomery and Kenwood Roads
Hamilton County, Ohio
In 1985, the Washington, DC-based Western Development Corporation acquired KENWOOD PLAZA. They formed a joint venture with the Queen City's Towne Centre Properties and, within 2 years, a major renovation was underway.
The eastern half of the shopping center was razed. The western portion, and two anchor stores, were incorporated into the Phase I stage of the project. This consisted of a forty-store (400,000 square foot) enclosed mall. Christened KENWOOD TOWNE CENTRE, it was officially inaugurated on October 29, 1987. An elaborate grand opening celebration included a parade, ribbon cutting, fashion shows, clown and mime performances and concerts. Music was provided by several local high school bands and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra.
Phase II involved construction of a 727,400 square foot, 2-level, enclosed shopping concourse. This would house 140 stores and services and be anchored by a new, 2-level (219,200 square foot) Lazarus. This portion of the shopping hub was dedicated on October 20, 1988.
With these additions, the circa-1956 strip center had morphed into a 1.1 million square foot mega mall. It surpassed Kentucky's FLORENCE MALL in size, becoming Greater Cincinnati's largest shopping center. This title was held for only 6 months. In March 1989, FOREST FAIR MALL {10 miles northwest, in Forest Park and Fairfield} debuted with an astounding 1,420,000 leasable square feet.
KENWOOD TOWNE CENTRE had been conceived as an upscale retail complex. Stores and services included Panache, Laura Ashley, Carroll Reed, T. Edwards, Jaegar, The Limited, Record Town and Funky's Cafe. On the Lower Level was a 13-bay Food Court and the Loews Kenwood Towne Centre 5. This megaplex opened for business on May 6, 1989. It would be in operation until June 2009.
The first KENWOOD TOWNE CENTRE anchor rebranding had occurred October 29, 1984, when New York City-based Associated Dry Goods merged Pogue's with its Indianapolis-based L.S. Ayres chain. The Ayres store was rebranded by J.C. Penney on November 7, 1988 and Birmingham-based Parisian on September 8, 1993. It closed for good in February 2007.
McAlpin's, which now encompassed 240,000 square feet, was rebranded as a Little Rock-based Dillard's in July 1999. Lazarus was rebannered, as a Lazarus-Macy's, on August 1, 2003 and was fully "Macy-ated" March 6, 2005. The Teachers Retirement System of Ohio had purchased KENWOOD TOWNE CENTRE in December 1998. Chicago-based General Growth Properties bought a share of the retail facility in August 2002.
Meanwhile, a new KENWOOD TOWNE CENTRE competitor was being built in two stages. The first, ROOKWOOD PAVILION {4.9 miles southwest, in Norwood}, was open-air in format, middle-market in orientation and was completed in 1994. ROOKWOOD COMMONS, a more upscale counterpart built adjacent to the PAVILION, was dedicated in the year 2000.
By this time, KENWOOD TOWNE CENTRE was established as Cincinnati's most upscale fashion mall. To retain this position, the construction of a trendy, open-air "lifestyle component" began in June 2003. This twelve-tenant addition, known as The Streetscape, comprised 100,000 leasable square feet. It was built onto the south facade of the existing mall. First stores opened in February 2004.
A second renovation phase, completed in 2005, expanded Macy's to over 276,600 square feet and added a multilevel parking garage to the rear of the store. A third round of renovation, undertaken in early 2007, demolished the old Pogue's / Penney's / Parisian. It was replaced by a 2-level (138,000 square foot) Nordstrom, which had a 2-level parking structure underneath. The store held its grand opening on September 25, 2009.
With all renovation and expansion complete, KENWOOD TOWNE CENTRE spanned approximately 1,161,500 leasable square feet. It was now Greater Cincinnati's third-largest shopping mall; following FOREST FAIR MALL (with 1,436,000 square feet) and TRI-COUNTY MALL (with 1,349,000 square feet).
Brookfield Property Partners, based in Hamilton, Bermuda, acquired a share of General Growth Properties in 2016. In August 2018, Brookfield established 100 percent ownership of the corporation. Hence, KENWOOD TOWNE CENTER became part of the Brookfield retail center portfolio.
Sources:
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Cincinnati Business Courier
"Dual Anchor Shopping Centers 1952-1965" / Richard Longsteth "Directory of Shopping Centers in the United States and Canada, 5th Edition" (1962)
www.thestrategicedge.com
Cincinnati Magazine
http://www.cinematreasures.org
https://www.kenwoodtownecentre.com (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
http://www.movie-theatre.org / Mike Rivest
www.ggp.com / General Growth Properties
http://westdev.com/project/kenwood-towne-centre / Western Development
"Brookfield Property Partners" article on Wikipedia
