MISSION VALLEY CENTER
Camino Del Rio North and Mission Center Road
San Diego, California
In 1957, May Company California purchased a large land parcel in San Diego County and was soon lobbying for an agricultural-to-commercial zoning change so that construction of a regional shopping center could begin.
A matter of note: in the late 1950s, essentially all that was necessary in order to build a major commercial complex was to secure a zoning change. Today, the same endeavor would require environmental impact statements, traffic studies, community forums and a number of other costly -and time-consuming- measures. Moreover, there would be the possibility of community opposition to such a project that would need to be overcome.
Even in 1957, there was a great deal of controversy involved with the May Company shopping center plan. Many citizens did not want to see the pristine Mission Valley inundated with suburbanization. Likewise, the city's downtown merchants were none too pleased with the prospect of a huge, suburban retail center potentially siphoning off their customer base.
After much wheeling and dealing, the City Council granted the zoning change in June 1958. Ground was broken on a 90-acre site, located 3 miles north of the center city, in July of the same year. Construction on the prospective MISSION VALLEY CENTER got underway on December 1.
The open-air mall was designed by the San Diego-based Deems, Lewis, Martin & Associates and Frank Hope & Associates firms. It would be a bi-level structure. The first floor would consist of a parking garage, pastoral Center Court with fountain and children's play area. The upper floor would be devoted entirely to retail.
This design was conceived because the shopping center site was located on a flood plain of the San Diego River. It was thought that a sufficient amount of rain could flood the area, with the ground floor of a structure being submerged in several feet of water.
When officially dedicated on February 20, 1961, the 25 million dollar shopping center encompassed approximately 865,900 leasable square feet. It was anchored by a 4-level (363,000 square foot) May Company and 2-level (219,000 square foot) Montgomery Ward. Among the seventy-three inline stores and services were See's Candies, Jacobson's, Streicher's Shoes, Bank of America, a Thrifty Drug and J.J. Newberry 5 & 10.
In late 1961, MISSION VALLEY was joined by its first retail competitor, GROSSMONT CENTER {7.5 miles east, in La Mesa}. FASHION VALLEY CENTER {less than a mile west, in San Diego} was dedicated in 1969. UNIVERSITY TOWNE CENTRE {7.5 miles northwest, also in San Diego} opened its doors in 1977.
The western sector of the MISSION VALLEY CENTER site was developed soon after the mall was completed. An outparcel Ice Arena was built in the parking area west of Ward's in 1963 (it closed in the early 1970s). The National General Theatres
Valley Circle Theater, part of the MISSION VALLEY WEST strip center, showed its first feature December 23, 1966.
In the mid-1970s, the first expansion of the mall was completed. A new
North Wing housed eleven inline stores and was anchored by a 3-level (173,200 square foot), Los Angeles-based Bullock's. This store, the first Bullock's in greater San Diego, opened its doors on February 19, 1975.
8 years later, the mall was expanded again. A
Northeast Wing and 2-level (77,300 square foot) Saks Fifth Avenue were dedicated in the fall of 1983. MISSION VALLEY CENTER now encompassed 1,572,800 leasable square feet. Size-wise, it had surpassed FASHION VALLEY as the largest shopping center in Greater San Diego. This distinction reverted back to FASHION VALLEY, following a 1996-1997 expansion.
In November 1993, MISSION VALLEY CENTER was one of nineteen CentreMark properties being sold to a joint venture. This group was comprised of Australia's Westfield, Des Moines' General Growth Properties and New York City's Whitehall Street Real Estate Limited Partnership. The joint venture divided management of the malls, with Westfield's share including MISSION VALLEY CENTER. In June 1996, Westfield established 100 percent ownership of the previous CentreMark portfolio.
In the mid-1990s, several store spaces in the
Northeast Wing were vacant. Things had worsened considerably when the Saks store closed, on July 9, 1994. To reinvigorate the mall, a renovation was done between 1994 and 1997. The state-of-the-art American Multi-Cinema
Mission Valley 20 multiplex, built in the front parking area, opened for business December 15, 1995.
The ailing
Northeast Wing was reconstructed and renamed
The Promenade. New big box stores were recruited. Bed, Bath & Beyond (assuming the old Saks store) began business in November 1995. Loehmann's opened their MISSION VALLEY location in August 1996. Nordstrom Rack and Michaels set up shop as well.
Meanwhile, May Company had absorbed all Los Angeles-based J.W. Robinson's department stores. Existing May Company and Robinson's locations were rebranded as Robinsons-May on January 31, 1993. The mall's Bullock's re-opened, as a Macy's Home Store, on May 1, 1996.
The mall-wide renovation was completed in 1997, with the shopping hub encompassing 1,676,500 leasable square feet and over 120 stores and services. 1997 was also the year that the San Diego Trolley light rail system opened its 6.1 mile "Mission Valley West" extension. This serviced the new PARK VALLEY SHOPPING CENTER, located directly north of WESTFIELD MISSION VALLEY.
In November 1998, Westfield renamed the mall WESTFIELD SHOPPINGTOWN MISSION VALLEY. The "shoppingtown" moniker, which had been added to the names of all Westfield-owned malls, was
dropped in June 2005. Henceforth, the shopping venue would be known as simply WESTFIELD MISSION VALLEY. Montgomery Ward had closed in March 2001. Target established a new store at this location on July 24, 2002. Robinsons-May was rebranded by Macy's on September 9, 2006.
In mid-2008, the Westfield Group announced plans for a massive expansion of WESTFIELD MISSION VALLEY. This would have included double-decking the mall's retail level, which would have added 500,000 leasable square feet. Office and hotel space was also proposed, as were 250 high-end residential units and five new parking structures.
As soon as these plans were divulged, they were met with substantial community opposition. Local government approval could have taken several years. This stumbling block, and the Great Recession, resulted in expansion plans for WESTFIELD MISSION VALLEY being abandoned...at least for the time being.
By January 2016, there were -once again- rumblings about some type of mall remodeling. Westfield began a process to purchase the 55-year-old May Company building. The Historical Resources Board of the City of San Diego sprang into action. They evaluated the Mission Valley May Company building and concluded that it "retains integrity as it relates to the original design."
Furthermore, the structure was deemed "historically significant." It was said that this action could prevent the Mid-Century Modern store from being torn down as part of a mall renovation. Westfield finalized the purchase of the building in March 2016 and appealed to the City of San Diego to revoke its designation as an historic structure. Meanwhile, Macy's closed the store on March 19, 2017. The Macy's Home Furniture store went dark in early 2025.
Westfield's American and European property portfolio was merged into the holdings of Paris-based Unibail-Rodamco in June 2018. A new company, known as Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, was created. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield sold MISSION CENTER in July 2023.
A joint venture of Los Angeles-based Lowe (Enterprises) and Louisville, Colorado's Real Capital Solutions became the new proprietor. They assembled a plan to redevelop MISSION CENTER as THE VALLEY, a mixed-use facility. In addition to retail, this complex would feature two residential structures, a central common area and parking garage.
Sources:
The San Diego Union Tribune
"Dual Anchor Shopping Centers 1952-1965" / Richard Longstreth
https://www.sandiegohistory.org / "The Auto - Rise Of the Shopping Centers"
https://history.sandiego.edu
https://classicsandiego.com
Mitch Glaser / "Paradox Unbound"
https://www.sandiegometro.com / "Mission Valley's Transformation" / By Libby Brydolf / 1998
https://www.modernsandiego.com
https://www.cinematreasures.org
http://www.westfield.com (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
Metropolitan Transit Development Board
The City of San Diego Historical Resources Board report / "May Company / William Lewis, Junior Building" / January 28, 2016
https://www.reuters.com
https://sdnews.com
https://fox5sandiego.com
