The National General Corporation Fox Westroads Theatre had opened November 12, 1967. It was reconfigured with 2 screens in 1977 and renamed the Fox Twin. The second mall movie house, the American Multi-Cinema Six West Theatres, was the nation's first in-mall 6-plex. It showed its first features on January 22, 1969.
The two movie houses were situated adjacent to one another, in the northeast corner of the mall. The Fox venue had an exterior entry, with the 6-plex connecting into the interior mallway. The Fox theater was acquired by AMC in December 1983 and merged with the 6-plex. The combined cinemas were promoted as the AMC Westroads 6 & 2 and then as the Westroads 8.
An Omaha-based Brandeis was added to WESTROADS CENTER. The 4-level (80,000 square foot) store, filling unfinished mall space in the northwest corner, opened for business on October 2, 1972. Another area of the mall was also gradually completed and leased. The Lower Level came to fruition with the dedication of the Round Dinner Playhouse Westroads Dinner Theatre.
This live performance venue opened for business on September 1, 1970. Soon after, adjacent Lower Level space was utilized for Liberty Square, a mall-within-a-mall. This mini-complex was dedicated on November 21, 1975. Some of the fifteen original Liberty Square stores were The Engravery, Quiet Eagle Jewelry, Plant Place, A Pot Shoppe and House of Time. WESTROADS CENTER now contained 157 stores and services.
Major shopping hubs in the WESTROADS trade area included the aforementioned CROSSROADS CENTER (1961) {2 miles east, in Omaha} and SOUTHROADS CENTER (1966) {9.4 miles southeast, in Bellevue}. Eventually, there was OAK VIEW MALL (1991) {4 miles southwest, also in Omaha}.
The first anchor nameplate change at WESTROADS CENTER involved Kilpatrick's. The chain had been acquired by Des Moines-based Younkers in 1961. Although operated as a (quote-unquote) Younker-Kilpatrick's, the WESTROADS store sported a Kilpatrick's nameplate. By the late 1970s, it was promoted with a Younker-Kilpatricks brand.
A 2 million dollar renovation commenced in the summer of 1981. Younker-Kilpatricks expanded into adjacent space, which had been occupied by McCrory's. Several amenities were added, such as the Peacock Restaurant, David's Cookies and a delicatessen. The refurbished store, now known as simply Younkers, was re-dedicated on August 22, 1982. It encompassed 171,600 square feet.
The Brandeis chain was acquired by Younkers in the late 1980s. The WESTROADS Brandeis was refashioned into the Younkers West specialty store, which opened on August 5, 1987. The main store became Younkers East.
In February 1990, the next WESTROADS renovation got underway. During this 16 million dollar project, interior spaces were remodeled. A vacant Younkers West was reconfigured as inline store spaces and a building, previously housing Hinky Dinky and then United Sporting Goods, was repurposed. The 12-bay Grand Cafe Food Court opened for business on May 30, 1991. Vendors included Original Cookie Company, Imperial Palace Express, Orange Julius-Dairy Queen and Great Steak & Fry Company.
Work on a fifth mall anchor commenced in 1994. A 3-level (179,100 square foot), Davenport-based Von Maur was included as part of a twenty-two store South Wing. The new department store opened its doors on August 5, 1995.
Ownership of the shopping hub had changed in March 1977, when the Prudential Insurance Company became its new proprietor. WESTROADS CENTER was sold again in July 1997. Chicago's General Growth Properties and Montreal's Ivanhoe Cambridge acquired the complex in a joint venture. Soon after, the official name of the complex was changed to WESTROADS MALL.
In November 1997, Montgomery Ward was shuttered. Kansas City, Missouri-based The Jones Store bought the vacant structure, gutted and remodeled it, and opened for business on October 8, 1999. The mall now encompassed approximately 1,078,700 leasable square feet. The multiplex cinema, shuttered in 1997, was demolished. It was replaced by a 2-level (84,000 square foot) Galyan's Trading Company, which opened on August 31, 2003. A parking garage had also been added to the existing Penney's. The Galyan's store was rebranded by Dick's Sporting Goods in October 2004.
The Jones Store closed on August 25, 2003. Younkers moved in and opened on October 12th. The next alterations at WESTROADS were done in the southwest and northwest parking areas. Three freestanding restaurants were built. P.F. Chang's China Bistro was inaugurated on September 2, 2002. Granite City Food & Brewery followed, on October 10, 2006, with Cheesecake Factory making its debut on November 1 of the same year.
Now we come to the tragic part of the WESTROADS story. On December 5, 2007, a deranged individual, bent on becoming famous, instead became
INfamous when he entered the Von Maur store with an assault rifle, killed eight and wounded five.
Von Maur and WESTROADS MALL persevered.
The vacant Kilpatrick's-Younkers was gutted and reconfigured as the Rave Cinemas
Westroads 14 megaplex. The new cinema made its debut on November 14, 2008. The
Grand Cafe Food Court was replaced by the 8-bay
Flagship Commons Food Hall in late 2015. This was installed in existing mall space, in the northwest corner of the complex.
As the new
Food Hall opened, eateries in the old
Grand Cafe were shuttered. Some relocated into the new
Food Hall, others found space within the mall. The vacant
Grand Cafe space was gutted and rebuilt as a (25,000 square foot) The Container Store, which welcomed its first shoppers on October 22, 2016.
WESTROADS MALL now encompassed 1,045,800 leasable square feet and housed 122 stores and services. The complex faced a major vacancy when Younkers, a mall anchor since 1982, was shuttered. The store -and chain- were liquidated as part of the 2018 Bon Ton Stores bankruptcy.
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. As a result, WESTROADS MALL became part of the Brookfield retail center portfolio.
Sources:
The Omaha World Herald
https://assessor.douglascounty-ne.gov / Douglas County, Nebraska
https://myomahaobsession.com
http://www.generalgrowth.com / General Growth Properties (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
http://www.ggp.com / General Growth Properties (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
https://www.cinematreasures.org
https://www.westroadsmall.com
"Westroads Mall" article on Wikipedia
