FASHION PLACE
South State Street / US 89 and East 6400 South
Murray, Utah

Greater Salt Lake City's third shopping mall was sited on a 92-acre plot, located 9 miles southwest of Temple Square, in suburban Murray. The 40 million dollar FASHION PLACE was developed by El Segundo, California's Ernest W. Hahn, Incorporated and designed by Los Angeles-based Leach, Cleveland & Associates.

The original structure enveloped 696,000 leasable square feet and eighty-nine store spaces. Twenty-one of these, including a 2-level (110,000 square foot), Salt Lake City-based Auerbach's, opened for business September 18, 1972. A 1-level (26,000 square foot), Salt Lake City-based Castletons, 3-level (289,000 square foot) Sears -and twenty new inline stores- were dedicated November 1, 1972.

Charter FASHION PLACE tenants included Lerner Shops, Makoff's ladies' wear, Roper's, La Rie's ladies' wear, Wicks 'n Sticks, Zinik's Sporting Goods, Noah's Ark Pet Shop and Chess King. The United Artists Fashion Place IV Cinemas showed its first features February 16, 1973.

Soon after, construction commenced on a third anchor. It opened, as a 3-level (180,000 square foot), Los Angeles-based The Broadway, August 3, 1974. This store dedication was accompanied by the completion of a freestanding structure which housed a Smith's Food King and Skaggs Drug Center. With these additions, FASHION PLACE encompassed 876,000 leasable square feet and became the Beehive State's first superregional shopping center.

Retail rivals were COTTONWOOD MALL (1962-2007) {3 miles northeast, in Salt Lake County / Holladay}, VALLEY FAIR MALL (1970) {5 miles northwest, in Salt Lake County / West Valley City} and -eventually- SOUTH TOWNE CENTER (1986) {4.8 miles south, in Sandy}.

Interstate highway access came to FASHION PLACE in November 1976, with the opening of the western section of the I-215 "Belt Route". Its temporary eastern terminus ended at the mall and would not be joined with the remainder of the 24 mile roadway until it was completed in October 1989.

The Broadway became the first rebranded anchor on January 30, 1978. It would be operated as a Sacramento-based Weinstock's, which, like The Broadway, was a division of Los Angeles-based Carter Hawley Hale Stores.

Auerbach's was rebannered as a Seattle-based Nordstrom in early 1981. Castletons was shuttered in early 1988 and re-opened, as a Salt Lake City-based ZCMI II, August 3, 1988. It was the second location of the chain's new line of junior anchor-sized stores, with the first being located at the FOOTHILL VILLAGE strip center, in Salt Lake City.

The first renovation of FASHION PLACE took place in 1988, when its interior was updated with new decor, skylights and a 10-bay Food Court. This was installed in previously-existing space in the South Wing. Weinstock's was shuttered December 20, 1992, with its space being taken by Dillard's. They renovated the building and held a grand opening November 9, 1993. ZCMI II was rebranded, as a Portland, Oregon-based Meier & Frank, April 18, 2001 and was "Macy-ated" September 9, 2006.

Meanwhile, ownership of FASHION PLACE had changed in 1980. The Toronto-based Trizec Corporation acquired a portion of the portfolio of the Ernest W. Hahn Corporation. Following the merger, the entity became known as TrizecHahn.

In April 1998, Maryland's Rouse Company acquired the holdings of TrizecHahn. In turn, the Rouse Company was absorbed by Chicago-based General Growth Properties in 2004. The Rouse Company had announced a renovation and expansion of FASHION PLACE in the year 2000, which had been abandoned in June 2001.

In March 2007, GGP started construction, in earnest, on a large-scale remodeling of the complex. First, Cheesecake Factory added an exterior-entranced store to the front of the Nordstrom structure. The restaurant opened, as the first location in Utah, November 2, 2007. The supermarket / drug store building in the northwest parking area was bulldozed. A 2-level (138,000 square foot) Nordstrom was built. The retailer relocated from its circa-1981 FASHION PLACE store March 6, 2009.

In the mall proper, new flooring and ceilings were installed. Moreover, the Food Court was given an update, along with a new outdoor plaza entrance. This was connected with a 64,400 square foot Streetscape addition, with eight retail spaces, which was built on the southwest corner of the existing mall.

GGP's bankruptcy proceedings, in early 2009, resulted in further Streetscape construction being suspended midway through the project. Nearly 5 million dollars was owed to the construction company. A deal was worked out between GGP and the contractor in early 2010.

The sour economy also caused Dillard's to delay their plans for a new FASHION PLACE store. Dillard's remained as is for the time being, but the old Auerbach's / Nordstrom (on the west end of the mall) was demolished. It was replaced with a 98,000 square foot Streetscape section.

Among the seventeen tenants were a (29,000 square foot) Crate & Barrel, (23,000 square foot H & M), plus Teavana, Chico's, Ann Taylor and Brio Tuscan Grill. H & M and Crate & Barrel opened for business November 11, 2011. With the west section renovation completed, FASHION PLACE housed approximately 1,103,400 leasable square feet and 124 store spaces.

Sears, which had operated at the mall since 1972, closed July 12, 2013 and was knocked down in January 2014. A 2-level (207,800 square foot) Dillard's was built, which held its grand opening August 12, 2015. The mall's Macy's, shuttered January 12, 2014, was replaced by The Container Store in the fall of that year.

The old The Broadway / Weinstock's / Dillard's was bulldozed in October 2015. An extended Northeast Wing was built, which was anchored by a 2-level (161,600 square foot) Macy's. This store began business on March 10, 2017. With its completion, FASHION PLACE encompassed approximately 1,135,000 leasable 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, FASHION PLACE became part of the Brookfield retail center portfolio.

Sources:

The Deseret News (Salt Lake City)
www.ggp.com / General Growth Properties
www.fashionplace.com
Post by "Go Nordrike!"
http://www.movie-theatre.org / Mike Rives
http://www.murrayjournal.com
"Fashion Place" article on Wikipedia

FAIR USE OF FASHION PLACE IMAGES:

The photos from the University of Utah Marriott Library illustrate a key moment in the mall's history that is described in the article. The images are of lower resolution than the originals (copies made would be of inferior quality). The images are not replaceable with free-use or public-domain images. The use of the images does not limit the copyright owners' rights to distribute the images in any way. The images are being used for non-profit, informational purposes only and their use is not believed to detract from the original images in any way.