WASHINGTON SQUARE
Southwest Scholl's Ferry Road and Southwest Blum Boulevard
Washington County (Tigard), Oregon
Plans for the sixth mall-type center in Greater Portland were announced on May 3, 1972. A 100-store retail complex was to be built on an 85-acre plot, located 6.8 miles southwest of the city center. At the time, the land parcel was in a section of unincorporated Washington County known as Progress.
WASHINGTON SQUARE was developed by Winmar Pacific, Incorporated, which was a subsidiary of Seattle-based Safeco Insurance. The design of the shopping hub was handled by Wright Forssen Associates and KPFF Consulting Engineers, of Seattle, Washington, and the Wilsey & Ham firm, of San Mateo, California.
A 2-level (160,000 square foot), Portland-based Meier & Frank became the first operational store on August 16, 1973. A 2-level (120,000 square foot), Portland-based Lipmans and 3-level (211,900 square foot) Sears debuted on November 14, 1973. The mall was officially dedicated -with 102 stores- on February 21, 1974.
New stores continued to open. A 2-level (108,000 square foot) Nordstrom was inaugurated on May 15, 1974, followed by a 2-level (89,300 square foot), Honolulu-based Liberty House, which welcomed first shoppers on August 9, 1974. The sixth anchor, a 2-level (210,500 square foot) J.C. Penney, began business on August 13, 1975.
Charter tenants included Rife's Organ Sales, The Shutterbug, Buster Brown Shoes, Candlelite & Wine, Sound City, Olive's East Coffee Tea & Spice, a Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio and Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour. With its completion, WASHINGTON SQUARE encompassed approximately 1,093,500 leasable square feet and was the largest enclosed shopping center in the Beaver State.
A freestanding cinematic venue was built on a pad located southeast of the mall. The Luxury Theatres Washington Square Quad Cinemas showed first features on July 12, 1978. Over the years, the movie house would operate as an Act III and -then- Regal venue. It was shuttered in the early 2000s and demolished in 2011. SQUARE TOO, an open-air strip plaza, was built north of the cinema. Encompassing three buildings and 88,000 square feet, it was completed in 1985.
A three-tube waterslide similar to one at PDX's EASTPORT PLAZA was installed in the north parking area of WASHINGTON SQUARE. This Hydrotube, which included an adjacent restaurant, opened in August 1983. The attraction was shut down in 1985 as a result of liability issues.
For several years, WASHINGTON SQUARE had virtually no competition. BERNARD'S BEAVERTON MALL-CEDAR HILLS CROSSING {3.2 miles northwest, in Beaverton} was a smaller shopping venue that had opened in October 1969. Genuine retail rivalry came in March 1981, with the completion of CLACKAMAS TOWN CENTER {9.8 miles east, in Clackamas County}. WOODBURN COMPANY STORES-WOODBURN PREMIUM OUTLETS {21 miles southwest, in Woodburn} was dedicated in August 1999. This complex was followed by BRIDGEPORT VILLAGE {3.8 miles southeast, in Tigard and Tualatin}. This lifestyle center was inaugurated in May 2005.
Anchor store rebrandings got an early start at WASHINGTON SQUARE. Frederick & Nelson rebranded the Liberty House location in April 1978 and then moved into -and rebranded- the larger Lipmans store in April 1979. The old Liberty House-Frederick & Nelson re-opened, as a Mervyn's, on November 2, 1979.
By the mid-1980s the cities of Portland, Beaverton and Tigard were fighting a nasty court battle for annexation of the mall. Tigard prevailed in 1986 and incorporated WASHINGTON SQUARE into its city limits.
The first major mall renovation got off to a rocky start. Frederick & Nelson was shuttered on January 14, 1991. Nordstrom planned on demolishing the vacant building and replacing it with a larger store. Initial work was underway when it was halted by a suit filed by May Department Stores, the parent company of Meier & Frank. The issue was resolved in January 1993. Nordstrom would build its new WASHINGTON SQUARE store and Meier & Frank would expand theirs.
Nordstrom's new 2-level (180,000 square foot) unit opened on August 12, 1994. The remodeled and enlarged Meier & Frank, which now encompassed 269,000 square feet, was officially dedicated on September 16th. As part of their store renovation, Meier & Frank constructed an adjacent parking garage.
During a second renovation phase, the old Nordstrom building was gutted, with its lower level becoming new inline stores. The upper level was reconfigured as additional retail space and the 10-bay Summit Food Collection. This culinary complex opened for business on July 21, 1995.
The shopping venue changed ownership in 1999. It was sold to a joint venture of the Santa Monica-based Macerich Company and Pacific Premier Retail Trust. The Ontario (Canada) Teachers Pension Plan also participated in the transaction.
A second mall expansion and renovation got underway in late 2004. An 80,000 square foot -twenty-eight store- Northwest Wing was constructed, along with two parking garages. The 50 million dollar concourse was officially dedicated on November 18, 2005. Tenants included Papyrus, The Duck Shop, Sharper Image, Godiva Chocolatier and The Cheesecake Factory.
Mervyn's went dark in November 2005. The building was renovated and re-opened, as a Pittsburgh-based Dick's Sporting Goods, on March 13, 2008. At this time, WASHINGTON SQUARE covered around 1,458,700 leasable square feet and contained 210 tenant spaces.
Sears shuttered their WASHINGTON SQUARE store on January 7, 2019. The building was acquired by Macerich in June 2023. The structure will be razed and replaced by an open-air- complex of five buildings; these housing residential, office and hospitality components. There will also be public greenspace. Demolition was scheduled to commence in July 2024, but has been temporarily postponed.
Sources:
The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon)
Comment post by Mark Bozanich
https://www.shopwashingtonsquare.com
https://djcoregon.com
http://www.angelfire.com / "Highways of Washington State"
Washington County, Oregon tax assessor website
https://pamplinmedia.com
https://www.kptv.com
https://mg2.com / MG2 Corporation
"Washington Square Mall" article on Wikipedia
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