Saint Louis County, Missouri
Ground was broken for Greater St. Louis' fifth regional-class shopping mall on September 29, 1972. JAMESTOWN MALL, in the far "North County," was built on a portion of a 140-acre tract. This was located 16 miles northwest of center city Saint Louis, in an unincorporated section of St. Louis County known as Black Jack.
The single-level shopping venue was developed by Cleveland's Jacobs, Visconsi, Jacobs Company and designed by Los Angeles' Morganeli-Huemann Associates. Encompassing 682,200 leasable square feet, JAMESTOWN MALL was anchored by a 2-level (192,700 square foot) Sears, which was dedicated (along with the mall) on October 10, 1973. A 4-level (223,000 square foot), Saint Louis-based Stix, Baer & Fuller opened its doors on February 4, 1974.
Original stores and services included Forum Cafeteria, Walgreen Drug, Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream, Camelot Music, Davy Jones Locker, The Limited, Orange Bowl snack bar, Pass Pets and an Aladdin's Castle video arcade. The General Cinema Corporation Jamestown Mall Cinema I & II made its debut on July 12, 1974.
The Famous-Barr chain announced plans for a new JAMESTOWN store in April 1992, which would anchor a major expansion. After several delays, construction got underway in late 1993. The 2-level (164,500 square foot) Famous-Barr, which held its grand opening July 30, 1994, replaced a circa-1955 operation at Jennings' NORTHLAND CENTER.
Famous-Barr at JAMESTOWN MALL was joined by a 2-level (123,900 square foot) J.C. Penney, which welcomed its first shoppers on April 29, 1995. The new anchors -and a twenty-three store East Wing- increased the gross leasable area of JAMESTOWN MALL to approximately 1,010,400 square feet.
The original twin cinema closed down in early 1994. 5 years later, a state-of-the-art motion picture venue was completed. The Wehrenberg Theatres Jamestown 14 Cine showed its first features on November 20, 1998.
Anchor store conversions had begun at JAMESTOWN MALL in the spring of 1985, when Dillard's rebranded Stix, Baer & Fuller. J.C. Penney demoted their full-line operation to an Outlet Store, in 1999. The mall's Famous-Barr was "Macy-ated" in September 2006. The J.C. Penney Outlet Store became a JC's 5 Star outlet in 2013.
RIVER ROADS CENTER (MALL) (1962) {6 miles south, in City of Jennings} had been razed in 2006-2007. With one of its competitors out of the picture, JAMESTOWN MALL still faced SAINT LOUIS MILLS (2003) {8.8 miles southwest, in City of Hazelwood}.
JAMESTOWN MALL was in a downward spiral by the early 2000s. The New York City-based Carlyle Development Group acquired the property in June 2003. A 120 million "mixed-use commerce center" redevelopment was announced in mid-2008. The Stix-Dillard's, which had been vacated in June 2006, was to be converted to office spaces and the bulk of the mall demolished and replaced by a new urbanism-style town center, tentatively known as LINDBERGH PLACE.
Demolition of the moribund mall was to begin in early 2009. However, the shuttering of Sears' JAMESTOWN store, in January 2009, presented a stumbling block. Moreover, St. Louis County supervisors heard that developers were secretly attempting to auction off the Stix-Dillard's structure, which was supposed to serve as the center of the mall's rebirth. The county withdrew its 40 million dollar tax abatement.
Great Neck, New York's Kohan Investment Group bought the struggling complex in May 2009, but lost it to foreclosure in November 2011. The Carlyle Development Group reclaimed the property in late 2012. The J.C. Penney Outlet Store was rebranded as a JC's 5 Star Outlet in 2013, but ended up closing late in the same year. Macy's was shuttered in March 2014.
At this time, the entire Southwest Wing was closed to the public. There were twenty inline stores in operation, with approximately seventy-two vacant spaces. The entire mall was permanently shuttered on July 1, 2014.
Officials of St. Louis County unveiled their redevelopment plan for the JAMESTOWN MALL site in May 2016. A mixed-use venue was envisaged, which would include shoppes, restaurants and town homes. In order for this plan to work, all of the mall site needed to be brought under a single owner. This was accomplished in October 2017, under the auspices of the St. Louis County Port Authority. The moribund mall was knocked down between September 2023 and March 2024.
Sources:
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
http://www.carlyle-usa.com
http://www.joneslanglasalle.com
http://www.flovalleynews.com
http://www.simon.com
https://www.cinematreasures.org
http://www.bizjournals.com
Comment posts by "Go Nordrike!"
https://spectrumlocalnews.com
"Jamestown Mall" article on Wikipedia
