The mall's position as purveyor of fine art and haute couture is
accented by its reverence for history. Other malls renovate; regularly ripping
out historic architecture and replacing it with the latest style du jour.
Not at NORTHPARK. The design aesthetic used in the '60s has been
repeated with every expansion. On its 60th anniversary, the center was being promoted with a classic, circa-1965 graphic.
Graphic from NorthPark Development Company
NORTHPARK CENTER
North Central Expressway / US 75 and Park Lane
Dallas, Texas
The completion of Texas' BIG TOWN MALL, in 1959, inspired Raymond D. Nasher, a Dallas developer and art connoisseur. He began to plan a second air-conditioned mall for the Metroplex. It would be built on a 97-acre cotton field, owned by the Caruth family foundation. This parcel was located 7.2 miles north of Downtown Dallas, at the intersection of the North Central Expressway and Northwest Highway.
NORTHPARK CENTER was designed by E.G. Hamilton of the Hamilton & Harrell -now Omniplan Architects- firm. Kevin Roche, of Eero Saarinen & Associates, and John Dinkeloo also contributed to the layout of the original shopping center.
The complex was one of the first retail facilities in the nation to use a unified design aesthetic in construction and graphics. Built of white Texas brick with floors of highly-polished concrete, the mall featured simple, clean lines. Several works of art in Raymond D. Nasher's personal collection were used to decorate interior and exterior spaces.
NORTHPARK CENTER originally housed three anchor department stores. A 3-level (250,500 square foot), Dallas-based Titche-Goettinger ["Tiytch Get-injer"] and 3-level (164,000 square foot) Neiman-Marcus were dedicated on July 22, 1965. A 2-level (250,000 square foot) J.C. Penney opened for business -along with seventy-seven stores and services- on August 19, 1965.
A ribbon-cutting dedication included a performance by vocalist Gordon MacRae, as well as music from the Richardson High School and Wilmer-Hutchins bands. There was a prayer by Rabbi Levi Olan and speech by Raymond D. Nasher.
Charter NORTHPARK tenants included Marriott Cafeteria, Doubleday Book Shop, SupeRx Drugs, Singer Sewing Center, Melody Shop and an F.W. Woolworth 5 & 10. There were also two large outparcels. A (47,000 square foot) Kroger was situated in a Convenience Center. The General Cinema Corporation NorthPark Cinema I & II showed first features on September 9, 1965.
Major shopping hubs in the NORTHPARK trade area included TOWN EAST MALL (1971) {4.3 miles southeast, in Mesquite}, VALLEY VIEW CENTER (1973) {4.3 miles northwest, in Dallas}, RICHARDSON SQUARE (1977) {6.4 miles northeast, in Richardson} and GALLERIA DALLAS (1982) {4.5 miles northwest, also in Dallas}.
The first expansion of NORTHPARK CENTER was completed in the mid-1970s. A 2-level (135,000 square foot) Lord & Taylor opened its doors on April 8, 1974. A 2-level -thirty-store- Northwest Wing was dedicated on August 7th. Four parking structures were also built. With these modifications, the mall encompassed around 1.3 million leasable square feet.
Titche-Goettinger morphed into a San Antonio-based Joske's on February 4, 1979. Stores in the Joske's chain, including the NORTHPARK location, were rebranded by Dillard's in 1987. Meanwhile, a fourth level had been added to Neiman-Marcus, increasing its size to 208,000 square feet. The newly-expanded store re-opened on October 11, 1984. Dillard's was enlarged with a fourth floor, as well. This project was completed in October 1994, with that store encompassing 299,500 square feet.
J.C. Penney pulled up stakes in August 1999. The abandoned store was torn down, with a 2-level (250,000 square foot), Houston-based Foley's opening on October 6, 2000. The freestanding twin cinema had closed in 1998 and was bulldozed in 2001. Lord & Taylor, who conducted a retail retraction during 2004, closed their NORTHPARK location on January 25th. With this store -and the cinema- now sitting vacant, plans for a major mall expansion were given impetus.
Nancy Nasher and husband David Haemisegger acquired the land that the mall sat on in 1999. They sold a fifty-percent interest in their shopping complex to Santa Monica's Macerich Company, while retaining full operational control. Dallas-based Omniplan Architects were recruited to design a northern expansion. Ground was broken for the 235 million dollar project in May 2004.
North and northwest parking garages were demolished. A 3-level (203,000 square foot) Nordstrom was built, along with a 2-level (260,000 square foot) mall concourse. The new wing housed the American Multi-Cinema Northpark 15 and NorthPark Cafes Food Court. Two new parking garages were also built.
Arizona's capital city has produced a sizable number of failed shopping malls since the first mall-type center opened, back in 1957. At last count, there were twelve. For reasons of economy, we will cover eight Lost Malls of Phoenix. Eleven are listed henceforth, with original names used.
*MARYVALE SHOPPING CITY [1959-1998]The twelth Phoenician facility, SCOTTSDALE GALLERIA, is now an office complex. Being as how this shopping hub's grand opening took place in 1990, it is outside of our website's timeline focus. In order to be inducted into the Mall Hall of Fame, a shopping complex must have been dedicated between the years 1946 and 1979.
Phoenix was slow in adopting the "American Freeway City" model; this due to the desire of most Phoenicians to keep their metropolis from becoming another freeway-centric Los Angeles. Nonetheless, by the mid-1950s, work was underway on the region's earliest freeways.
At first, access roads and overpasses were built. By 1968, the Black Canyon Freeway traversed the city from north to south. It was upgraded to Federal Interstate Highway standards in the 1970s. By 1980, the region was served by four limited access roadways; the Black Canyon Freeway (Interstate 17), Papago Freeway (Interstate 10), Maricopa Freeway (Interstate 10) and Superstition Freeway (US 60 Highway).
Back in the day, few of Phoenix's shopping malls were freeway-adjacent. CHRIS-TOWN and WEST PLAZA were not far from an interchange. The first truly freeway-adjacent mall, METROCENTER, was completed in 1973. It was soon followed by FIESTA MALL, which debuted in 1979.
For years, the freeway system of the Valley of the Sun was inadequate. The implementation of a comprehensive, regional freeway network finally gained impetus with the 1985 passage of Proposition 300. This initiative created a one-half-percent sales tax, with proceeds to be used -primarily- to complete the freeway network that had been on the drawing board since the 1960s.
Nowadays, the push is on to extend the region's Valley Metro light rail network, which began revenue service on December 27, 2008. The inaugural Valley Metro route stretched for 20 miles and served twenty-eight stations; operating between the 19th Avenue-Montebello and Sycamore-Main Street stops. Extensions opened in 2015, 2016, 2019, 2024 and 2025. There are currently 35.3 route miles and forty-eight stations.
Ironically, today's rail transit network would connect TRI-CITY MALL, PARK CENTRAL CENTER, CHRIS-TOWN MALL and METROCENTER, if these shopping hubs still existed. TRI-CITY MALL and METROCENTER were bulldozed. PARK CENTRAL CENTER is now an office complex. The CHRIS-TOWN property has gone through several name changes, renovations and a demalling. It is now a big box-based power center, so at least it still functions in a retail capacity.
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