Nolensville Pike / US 31-A and 41-A and Harding Place
Nashville, Tennessee
The first enclosed shopping center in Tennessee was built in the Paragon Mills section of the Music City. News of the complex was first reported in July 1962. It would occupy 25 acres of a 46-acre parcel, located 2.7 miles south of the Volunteer State State House. HARDING MALL was being developed by the Harding Mall Corporation, a joint venture of several Atlanta-based investors headed by Raymond Sanders.
Ground was broken on April 26, 1963. The 2.5 million dollar shopping center would encompass approximately 185,000 leasable square feet, contain over twenty stores and services, and maintain free parking for 1,600 autos. Construction proceeded very slowly on the project. Its first operational store, a (20,000 square foot) A & P supermarket, wouldn't open until August 18, 1965.
A 1-level (57,500 square foot), Nashville-based Castner-Knott was inaugurated on March 14, 1966. G.C. Murphy's 1-level (30,000 square foot) store opened its doors on June 2nd. Among twenty charter tenants were First American National Bank, Happiness House Books & Gifts, Myrtle Spaulding ladies' ready-to-wear and Harding Mall Grand Prix Model Car Raceway.
Commercial competitors of HARDING MALL were all regional-class centers. In order of their openings, they were; 100 OAKS MALL (1967) {2.5 miles northwest, in Nashville}, MALL AT GREEN HILLS (1968 and 1991) {5.1 miles northwest, in Nashville} and HICKORY HOLLOW MALL (1978) {4.1 miles southeast, in Nashville}.
Sources:
The Nashville Tennessean
A 1-level (57,500 square foot), Nashville-based Castner-Knott was inaugurated on March 14, 1966. G.C. Murphy's 1-level (30,000 square foot) store opened its doors on June 2nd. Among twenty charter tenants were First American National Bank, Happiness House Books & Gifts, Myrtle Spaulding ladies' ready-to-wear and Harding Mall Grand Prix Model Car Raceway.
Store space on the South Mall was configured as the Martin Theatres Capri, which showed its first feature on March 26, 1969. The cinema re-opened as the Capri Twin on December 8, 1978 and was shuttered in 1989.
Meanwhile, a first expansion of the shopping center had been completed on November 8, 1973. Castner-Knott had a second level added., which increased its floor area to 107,500 square feet. By mid-1976, the G.C. Murphy store had replaced by a Nashville-based Service Merchandise annex. This store was retenanted by Massachusetts-based Marshalls on May 5, 1983.
Commercial competitors of HARDING MALL were all regional-class centers. In order of their openings, they were; 100 OAKS MALL (1967) {2.5 miles northwest, in Nashville}, MALL AT GREEN HILLS (1968 and 1991) {5.1 miles northwest, in Nashville} and HICKORY HOLLOW MALL (1978) {4.1 miles southeast, in Nashville}.
HARDING MALL changed hands in December 1988. The new proprietors were the David Miller Development Company (of Brentwood, Tennessee) and Robert R. Brown & Associates and R.G. Moore (of Virginia Beach). They immediately announced a major HARDING MALL renovation. Designed by the McLeary German firm of Houston, Texas, the 8 million dollar project would be completed in two phases.
During Phase One, three individual shopping concourses would be connected with a wrap-around mallway. The north and south sides of the complex would be enlarged, with the interior completely refurbished. New ceilings, skylights, signage and flooring would be installed and the store count increased from thirty-two to forty-five.
First phase construction got underway in March 1989. New mall stores included Dress Barn, Mollye's dress shop, Luby's Cafeteria, CPI Photo, Village Jewelers, Sears Portrait Studio, a Visions hair salon and Jenney Craig figure salon. As part of the second renovation phase, A & P -which had morphed into the Bingo Castle- was gutted and enlarged. The building now housed the Carmike Cinemas Carmike 6, which opened for business on May 4, 1990.
Two freestanding bistros were also built in the west parking area. Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant opened in July 1990, with an IHOP (International House of Pancakes) serving its first meals in September 1995. Chi-Chi's eventually closed and was replaced by Fuddruckers.
Castner-Knott had revamped their HARDING MALL store, with its grand re-opening being held on November 13, 1994. HARDING MALL now encompassed approximately 350,000 leasable square feet and contained fifty-seven store spaces. Castner-Knott, and its Mercantile Stores parent company, were eventually acquired by Dillard's. The HARDING MALL store re-opened with a Dillard's nameplate on August 13, 1998.
By this time, HARDING MALL was in decline. The Carmike 6 closed on August 24, 2000. It became the Barnabas Cinemas El Cine, the city's first ethnic movie house, on November 2, 2002, but was shuttered within a few years. The moribund mall had been outpositioned by its newer and larger competitors.
A demolition plan was announced in July 2004. Luby's Cafeteria served its last meal in September 2004. The few remaining inline stores shut down in March 2005, with Dillard's going dark in April. Demolition of the mall proper commenced in August 2005, with two outparcel structures left standing. A 1-level (205,200 square foot) Wal-Mart SuperCenter opened on the site on April 18, 2007.
Sources:
The Nashville Tennessean
The Nashville Banner
www.labelscar.com / "Prange Way"
www.cinematreasures.org
Nashville / Davidson County tax assessor website
www.labelscar.com / "Prange Way"
www.cinematreasures.org
Nashville / Davidson County tax assessor website
