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Hilltop Mall

 
Wikipedia: Hilltop Mall
Hilltop Mall
Location Richmond, California, USA
Opening date 1976
Developer A. Alfred Taubman
Management Simon Property Group
Owner Simon Property Group &
GM Pension Trusts
No. of stores and services 150 [1]
No. of anchor tenants 5
Total retail floor area 1.1 million ft² (102,193 m²) [1]
No. of floors 2

Hilltop Mall is a mall in the Hilltop neighborhood of Richmond, California. Hilltop is managed and co-owned by Simon Property Group, and is anchored by longtime tenants JC Penney, Macy's, Sears, and lastly Wal-Mart, a 2007 addition. [2]

Contents

History

Hilltop Mall opened in September of 1976, built on land previously occupied by the Hilltop Drive-In outdoor movie theater. The mall was developed by the A. Alfred Taubman, who also developed several other shopping malls in the East and South Bay Area, including Eastridge Mall in San Jose, Stoneridge Shopping Center in Pleasanton and Sunvalley Mall in Concord. Originally it was anchored by a bright red-tiled Capwell's, JCPenney and Macy's soon followed, closing their neighboring store in downtown Richmond at the same time.[3] Capwell's changed its name to Emporium-Capwell in 1979, before becoming simply Emporium in 1990. Sears was also added in 1990, the last expansion of this property.

Once opened the mall attracted the major anchors of Richmond's downtown, which became deserted with nearly all stores closing although many acknowledge that their trend predated Hilltop due to economic and safety issues.[4][5]

Hilltop Mall center court area with the gold anodized sculpture "solar cantata" (1971).[6]

The mall remained largely unchanged until 1996 when the Emporium store closed following its merger with Federated, who owned Macy's. The store remained vacant until October 1998, when Macy's refurbished and relocated their existing store into the former Emporium space. However, Federated chose not to have two Macys at Hilltop (unlike Sun Valley, Stoneridge, and others) and closed the original store. That building would remain vacant until WalMart took it over in the Spring of 2007.

The Taubman shopping center interests, which had become a publicly traded real estate investment trust in 1992, were reorganized in 1998 and the GM Pension Trust assumed full-ownership of Hilltop Mall at this time, retaining Taubman Centers as manager.[7] In its turn, in 2004 the GM Pension Trust sold a half-interest in a portfolio of shopping centers, including Hilltop to The Mills Corporation, which also assumed management of the center. After several years of delay, Wal-Mart opened on April 11, 2007 on the site Macy's vacated in 1998.

In July 2007, Simon Property Group purchased the entire The Mills Corporation portfolio including other Bay Area properties: Stoneridge Shopping Center in Pleasanton, California and Great Mall in Milpitas, California.

Anchors

Retailers

Hilltop Mall has dozens of smaller clothing boutiques for men, women, teens, and children. It has shoe stores including Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker and Shoe Palace, electronics stores such as GameStop, and athletic stores such as Champs Sports and Finish Line.

Hilltop Mall also features many other mainstream retailers such as Anchor Blue, Claire's, Forever 21 and Zumiez. Hilltop has several big name places to eat or snack, such as Maggie Moo's Ice Cream, Mrs. Fields Cookies, Auntie Anne's Pretzels, Subway, Wings To Go, Cazuela's Grill, and Great Khan's Mongolian BBQ.

There are also jewelry stores, stationers, luggage shops, music, video, gift and toy stores. There are also restaurants, mostly fast food, that include Burger King, McDonald's and others. Miscellaneous services include a hair salon, manicurist, portrait studios, a dentist and optometrists. There is a wide range of catering facilities and a health bar at the 24 Hour Fitness Magic Johnson Sport gym.

American Carousel Works just opened its first Bay Area carousel at Hilltop Mall in May 2009. This welcomed addition to the mall further enhances its attraction to families throughout West Contra Costa County.

Notes and references

Oakland Tribune (Richmond area edition), Sept. 3, 1976, page 13

  1. ^ a b Simon Property Group
  2. ^ Chico Enterprise Record - Wal-Mart plans to offer help to small fry at new location
  3. ^ Richmond Chamber of Commerce: History
  4. ^ Richmond History, retrieved 09-08-07
  5. ^ Images of America: Richmond (Paperback) by Donald Bastin, Arcadia Publishing (SC), November 2003
  6. ^ “Hilltop Mall Rotunda”, city of Richmond website, access date 06-03-2009
  7. ^ http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/890319/0000890319-99-000005.txt

External links

Coordinates: 37°58′51″N 122°19′42″W / 37.980725°N 122.32826°W / 37.980725; -122.32826


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