Christown Spectrum Mall

Chris-Town Mall is the oldest operating mall and was the third shopping mall built in Phoenix, Arizona, located on Bethany Home Road and 19th Avenue. Today it still exists as an enclosed shopping mall, although the enclosed portion of the mall was greatly reduced when redevelopment changed the configuration closer to a power centre. The property currently is known as Christown Spectrum Mall, derived from Chris-Town Mall & Phoenix Spectrum Mall, names previously used in the past.

History

Chris-Town Mall was originally named after the farmer, Chris Harri, who sold a large portion of his farm land to the mall's developer in the late 1950s. The mall's north-central location, about 7 miles directly north of the state Capitol, eventually became a well-known landmark. The surrounding neighborhoods are now commonly referred to by locals as the Chris-Town area of Phoenix.

Construction was completed in mid-1961. It is said that the construction didn't go as well as planned; the town would later find out why. Chris-Town Mall opened with much fanfare on August 24, advertised as the first indoor mall in Arizona. Another first for an Arizona mall was the air-conditioned interior, which may have led to competing Maryvale Mall converting to an indoor mall to stay competitive. The mall's original anchors included Montgomery Ward, JCPenney, and local department store, Korrick's. Other major tenants included S. S. Kresge, & Woolworth. Themed Courtyards served as focal points in front of each of the three major department stores. The main courtyard at the center entrance that buffered J.C. Penney was named the Court of Fountains; another named the Court of Flowers ended the east wing near Korrick's, and the Montgomery Wards opened to the final one, named the Court of Birds, in the west wing.

By 1966 the mall already had begun the first of many significant changes due to the buyout of Korrick's whose conversion saw the loss of one of the three original anchors to The Broadway. Also that year the mall's first of two movie theatres broke ground on the southwest side of the main parking lot. And a new subterranean tavern, called The Janitor's closet, opened near The Broadway end of the mall. The second significant change began in 1974 in reaction to Metro Center, the new mega mall that opened just a few miles away. Woolworth's was demolished to make way for the new southwestern wing anchored by a Bullock's department store. While a second new wing on the southwestern side of the mall opened to a United Artists Cinemas 6 on the upper level making it Chris-Town's second movie theatre. Changes already were underway again by the mid-1980s when Diamond's, which quickly became Dillard's, moved into the southwestern anchor spot vacated by Bullock's short stay at the mall. At this point the mall still remained strong, but it would not be for long.

The next decade would not be kind to Chris-Town Mall following the rapid closure of many anchor stores beginning with The Broadway in 1994; JCPenney, store #1821, closed in 1997 and then JCPenney, store # moved from Metro Center Mall back to Christown Spectrum Mall in 2007, the bankruptcy of Wards in 2001, and the closing of the final anchor, Dillard's, in 2004. The closures of the major department stores also brought about the permanent closure of the life sized sand sculptures exhibit that adorned the mall for many years.

Kimco Realty Corp purchased the mall in Q4 2015 for $115.3 million or $136 per square foot. At the time of the sale, the property was 94% occupied.^[1]

A New Spectrum

Beginning the new millennium the mall underwent a rebirth with a new name, Phoenix Spectrum Mall, and a Grossman Company Properties financed redevelopment was underway. The new spectrum of discount stores, replacing the old upscale ones, started with the demolition of The Broadway and replacement by Walmart (originally built as a discount store, now expanded into a Supercenter). The $10 million renovation project also included the addition of the first Costco^[2] to be located in an enclosed mall, followed by the division of the Wards department store into a Petsmart and Ross Dress for Less. Walgreens, a longtime resident relocated outside the mall to the northwest corner of the parking lot, with Big 5 Sporting Goods replacing that location in the mall. In 2007, after renovations were done, the food court of the mall was removed, and 3 fast food restaurants went outside the mall, Carl's Jr, KFC and Taco Bell (With Pizza Hut). In 2008, A Target at 7th Ave and Camelback Road next to a Fry's Food Store relocated to Christown Spectrum Mall to be replaced by a bigger store, thus, that Target became a SuperTarget, thus being only one of two SuperTarget superstores in Phoenix, the other one being in Deer Valley at 7th Street and Bell Road at 16806 N. 7th St (Facing E. Bell Rd) in a longtime shopping center, Bell Towne Center, which also houses 2 other major stores, Toys R Us/Babies R Us Superstore and Sprouts Farmers Market (Formerly Sunflower Market). In 2010-2012, they built a bunch of buildings on 19th Ave and Montebello, those buildings were, Chase Bank, Bank of America and Wells Fargo. Inside the outdoor part of the mall, they put in a bunch of stores following the Wards closure, those buildings were, America's Best Eyelashes, Sleep America, Dollar Tree, Carter's, Ross Dress for Less, PetSmart and Bright Now Dental. In Fall 2013, after the closure of a store called Kids Outlet closed around the time the SuperTarget arrived, they opened up Melrose Family Fashions in that area. In the summer of 2010, a longtime restaurant of Christown, JB's Family Restaurant, near SuperTarget, closed down. In summer 2014, that building was demolished.

A Familiar Name

Following the sale of the mall to Developers Diversified Realty in 2006, Phoenix Spectrum Mall took on a hybrid of its previous names to become known as Christown Spectrum Mall.^[3] The developers understood many residents still preferred to call the mall by the original name and thus knew the value of the name Christown. At this same time the southwestern wing that was added in 1974 was demolished and replaced by Target, as well as creating space for smaller specialty shops that would no longer be directly connected to the mall. The former United Artists Cinemas & food court were demolished and replaced by a Harkins theatre with stadium seating which resulted in the Chris-Town Cinemas located in the parking lot to also be demolished. Most of the enclosed section between the old Court of Fountains and the new PetSmart and Costco was demolished for the return of a previous anchor, JCPenney which relocated from their recently closed location at nearby Metrocenter. This demolition cut off mall access to the Petsmart & Ross, thus leaving only the center & eastern side as traditional enclosed mall.

Today the only remaining original structures are the center entrance, east wing and the Montgomery Wards building although the second floor remains non-leasable space. The rest of the buildings that housed the original anchors have been razed, along with the movie theatre and the entire western wing. Although the mall's central complex remains, the fountains were removed shortly after new flooring was added.

Light Rail

Christown Spectrum Mall has its own "Phoenix Christown Mall Station" stop on the Valley Metro Rail system.

See also

• Park Central Mall
• Maryvale Mall

External links

• Official Christown Spectrum website
• Chris-Town Retrospective

References

Coordinates: 33°31′20″N 112°05′43″W / 33.522149°N 112.095351°W / 33.522149; -112.095351