Foothill Boulevard and Dewar Drive
Rock Springs, Wyoming
The first fully-enclosed, regional-class shopping hub in Wyoming was built on a 32.4-acre plot, located 2 miles west of downtown Rock Springs. The single-level center, which encompassed approximately 278,300 leasable square feet, was designed by Salt Lake City's Don Johnson & Associates and Berkeley, California's Arthur A. Iwata. It was built by the Salt Lake City-based Price Development Company.
A 1-level (34,000 square foot) J.C. Penney opened on March 29, 1978. A mall-wide grand opening was held in October 1978. Officiating at the dedication were Edgar Jacob Herschler (D) (Governor of Wyoming) and John Price (head of the Price Development Company).
Charter tenants included Kinney Shoes, Karmelkorn, Hickory Farms of Ohio, The Hip Pocket, Zales
Jewelers, Command Performance and a freestanding Sizzler
Family Steakhouse. In addition to J.C. Penney, the mall was anchored by a 1-level (54,200 square foot), Seattle-based Ernst Home Center and 1-level (55,300 square foot) F.W. Woolworth. Minnesota's Herberger's chain dedicated a 1-level (33,200 square foot) store in 1979.
The only commercial competitor of WHITE MOUNTAIN MALL was PLAZA CENTER-MALL {1.1 miles southeast, also in Rock Springs}. This strip-type complex, dedicated in 1972, included an enclosed shopping concourse.
By the late 1980s, the Ernst Home Center at WHITE MOUNTAIN MALL had been shuttered. The building was demolished and replaced by a 1-level (87,500 square foot) Wal-Mart. An extended south wing was also built that connected Wal-Mart with the mall. This 23,900 square foot addition housed seven store spaces.
Woolworth went dark in July 1997, with Wal-Mart shutting its doors in 2001. This left WHITE MOUNTAIN MALL with nearly 137,000 feet of vacant area. This prompted management to pursue some creative -and even unorthodox- concepts in leasing. First off, the old Woolworth became offices for the State of Wyoming. A (23,100 square foot) section of the old Wal-Mart was configured as the Movie Palace Rock Springs Star Stadium 8 multiplex. It showed first features in October 2003.
More novel was the establishment of the world's first Harley-Davidson shopping mall store. The (43,000 square foot) Flaming Gorge Harley-Davidson shop featured a sales showroom, service center and men's and women's shower facilities. An RV and tractor-trailer parking area was also maintained at the rear of the store.
During 2007, Herberger's expanded into existing mall space, enlarging their original 35,200 square foot store to 60,100 square feet. In January 2012, Flaming Gorge Harley-Davidson moved out of WHITE MOUNTAIN MALL. Its space re-opened, as a Bozeman-based Murdoch's Ranch & Home Supply, in April 2013. Soon after, the adjacent (21,600 square foot) space was retenanted by Hudson, Ohio-based Jo-Ann Fabrics.
In 1994, the Price Development Company -who owned WHITE MOUNTAIN MALL- formed JP Realty, Incorporated, a REIT (or Real Estate Investment Trust tax shelter). The portfolio of JP Realty was acquired by Chicago's General Growth Properties in March 2002. In January 2012, WHITE MOUNTAIN MALL became one of the GGP properties that were placed under the newly-formed Rouse Properties Real Estate Investment Trust, a spin-off division devoted to "Class B" shopping centers.
Rouse Properties, and its portfolio of thirty-five shopping malls, was sold in July 2016. The buyer was Toronto's Brookfield Properties, which was a subsidiary of Brookfield Property Partners, which was a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management. As this deal was being finalized, a (14,000 square foot) Ross Dress For Less was installed in inline store space between Murdoch's and Herberger's. This new Ross store opened for business on March 7, 2015.
On April 8, 2016, J.C. Penney shuttered their 38-year-old WHITE MOUNTAIN MALL store. The vacant area was reconfigured as a (22,300 square foot) T.J. Maxx and (12,000 square foot) Petco. T.J. Maxx welcomed first shoppers on October 30, 2016. Petco held its grand opening in November.
The last original WHITE MOUNTAIN MALL anchor was shuttered as part of the bankruptcy and liquidation of Pennsylvania's Bon Ton Stores. Herberger's went dark on August 29, 2018, after over 39 years in business. The vacant space was leased by Dunham's Sports, who opened their store on October 29, 2021.
Brookfield Properties sold WHITE MOUNTAIN MALL to Boise-based Alturas Capital Partners in December 2023. At this time, the mall proper encompassed approximately 333,600 leasable square feet and housed twenty-three stores and services. There were also six outparcel businesses.
Sources:
The Salt Lake City Tribune
The Casper Star Tribune (Casper, Wyoming)
The Deseret News (Salt Lake City)
The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington)
The Directory of Major Malls / 1982 / MJJTM Publications / Suffern, NY
http://www.ggp.com / General Growth Properties (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
http://www.rockymountainbikers.com
http://www.rouseproperties.com / Rouse Properties (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
https://www.brookfieldproperties.com / Brookfield Properties
https://www.whitemountainmall.com (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
https://alturascapitalpartners.com / Alturas Capital Partners
https://www.whitemountainmall.com
"White Mountain Mall" and "Herberger's" articles on Wikipedia
