Hempstead Road / US 290 and Magnum Road
Houston, Texas
Maryland's James Rouse Company developed two fully-enclosed shopping malls simultaneously in the Bayou City. ALMEDA MALL, added to the circa-1966 Foley's Almeda-Genoa store, opened on October 10, 1968. Foley's Northwest welcomed first shoppers on July 31, 1967. The adjacent NORTHWEST MALL was officially dedicated on October 24, 1968.
NORTHWEST MALL was built on a 65.7-acre plot, located 5 miles northwest of center city Houston. ALMEDA MALL was located 17.8 miles southeast of NORTHWEST MALL. These single-level facilities were identical in design, shared the same anchors, and had virtually the same inline stores. The 2-level (209,600 square foot) Foley's Northwest anchored NORTHWEST MALL, along with a 2-level (209,300 square foot) J.C. Penney. The complex featured Houston-based Battelstein's and Palais Royal as junior anchors.
Charter inline stores included GNC, Lane Bryant, Spencer Gifts, Margo's La Mode ladies' wear, a Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour and F.W. Woolworth 5 & 10. A freestanding movie house, the American Multi-Cinema Northwest 4, opened for business on December 25, 1969. The only physical expansion of NORTHWEST MALL was done in the early 1970s, when Foley's was enlarged into a 298,800 square foot store.
Retail rivals were aplenty in over-malled Houston. These included SHARPSTOWN CENTER (1961) {7 miles southwest, in Houston}, MEMORIAL SHOPPING CITY (1966) {4.9 miles southwest, in Houston}, NORTHLINE SHOPPING CITY (1963) {4.7 miles to the northeast, in Houston} and TOWN & COUNTRY MALL (1983-2005) {6.2 miles southwest, in Houston}. Houston's GALLERIA (1970) was located 4 miles south of NORTHWEST MALL. However, it was so upscale that it provided no competition.
NORTHWEST MALL was given a face lift in 1990, with an 11-bay Food Court installed in its Center Court. Entrances were also rebuilt as part of the project. Over the years, inline stores came and went. Bealls -which replaced Battelstein's- was shuttered in February 1989. BizMart, on office supply chain, opened in June 1990 and closed in January 1991. Woolworth folded in December 1993. J.C. Penney pulled up stakes in June of the year 2000.
In October 1997, the Rouse Company sold the shopping center to Columbus, Ohio's Glimcher Realty Trust. They sold the property to Houston-based Levcor in October 2007. A large-scale renovation was planned, that would have demolished most of the complex and reworked it into a mixed-use, lifestyle-type center.
This project was delayed when a good-sized chunk of the east parking area was taken for the construction of High Occupancy Vehicle lanes on the adjacent US 290 Expressway. Moreover, NORTHWEST MALL took a direct hit from Hurricane Ike in September 2008. Its Macy's (a February 2006 rebranding of Foley's) incurred roof damage and closed for good. The space was never retenanted.
All inline mall stores were given eviction notices, effective March 31, 2017. This left only the exterior-entranced College of Healthcare Professionals and Thompson's Antique Center of Texas in business. By December 2021, the college and Antique Center had been shuttered. The moribund mall was now completely vacant.
All inline mall stores were given eviction notices, effective March 31, 2017. This left only the exterior-entranced College of Healthcare Professionals and Thompson's Antique Center of Texas in business. By December 2021, the college and Antique Center had been shuttered. The moribund mall was now completely vacant.
In 2018, the mall site was chosen for Houston Station, the southern terminus of the prospective Texas Central Railway, a 240-route-mile bullet train. To accommodate the passenger terminal, the abandoned mall was to be completely demolished. Construction of the Dallas-to-Houston high speed railway was originally scheduled to start in 2019, but was delayed until 2021. The latest information indicates that, if the TCR is built, it could be in revenue service by the year 2030.
Sources:
The Houston Chronicle / J.R. Gonzales
http://www.northwest-mall.com (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
https://www.cinematreasures.org
http://www.levcor.com
Sources:
The Houston Chronicle / J.R. Gonzales
http://www.northwest-mall.com (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
https://www.cinematreasures.org
http://www.levcor.com
https://www.texastribune.org
https://www.texascentral.com
"Northwest Mall" and "METROrail" articles on Wikipedia
"Northwest Mall" and "METROrail" articles on Wikipedia
