Century Plaza

Century Plaza was a 743,785 square-foot, two level, enclosed shopping mall which opened in 1975 at the intersection of Crestwood Boulevard and Oporto Road in the Eastwood area of Birmingham. The mall was designed by Giattina Fisher Aycock architects in a contemporary style with light brown brick on the exterior and brown tiled floors, open stairways, numerous angular fountains and bronze glass partitions on the interior.

The mall's popularity peaked in the 1980s when it outshown the older Eastwood Mall nearby with Sears, JC Penney, Pizitz and Rich's as department store anchors. A late 1980's interior remodeling brought brighter finishes and more skylights.

In the 1990s General Growth Properties purchased the mall for $32 million. After a long decline, the mall was formally closed on June 14. In 2006 two of the mall's anchors, JC Penney and Belk, relocated to newer shopping centers in Trussville, precipitating the mall's decline as a shopping destination. The last anchor store was Sears, which owned its section of the mall building.

Redevelopment proposals

Since 2006 General Growth has discussed moving forward with plans for a major redevelopment of the property.

The "Crestwood-Oporto District Redevelopment Plan", commissioned from KPS Group by the City of Birmingham, envisions a transformation of Century Plaza into a mixed use open-air retail and residential center. General Growth has indicated that they support the general ideas of the master plan, but have made no specific announcements regarding their plans.

In October 2008 Birmingham mayor Larry Langford proposed having the city and Jefferson County jointly purchase the mall and convert it into a senior citizens' recreation center. In December 2008, artist Rachel Higgins organized a revolving art exhibition of approximately 20 artists' work at a space in the nearly vacant mall entitled "Everything Must Go".

An Aldi food market is slated to open in June 2009 on an outparcel facing Crestwood Boulevard

Stores

Anchors

• JC Penney (1975–2006)
• Loveman's (1975–1980?)
• Pizitz (relocated from Eastwood Mall to Loveman's former space, March 1980), later renamed McRae's (1987), then Belk (2006, closed 2006)
• Sears (1974–2009)
• Rich's (1975–2004)

Other stores

5-7-9 Aladdin's Castle Applebee's Neighborhood Restaurant B. Dalton Booksellers Baker's Shoes Bath & Body Works Bookland (1970s to 1990s) Bromberg's (1975 to mid-1980s) Butler's Shoes Camelot Music Chess King Chik-Fil-A The Gap Gee Wiz (Sanrio) Hallmark Cards Hickory Farms Eden's Gifts El Chico's Express Family Christian Bookstore Fredrick's of Hollywood Hang Ten

Hibbett Sports India Shoppe Karmelkorn Lane Bryant Marsh Piano & Organ McDonald's Merry Go Round Morrison's Cafeteria (1975–) Musicland Orange Julius Ormond's Pearle Vision Center Piccadilly Cafeteria (-October 2003) Radio Shak Ranelli's Deli Regis Hair Salon Sbarro Pizza Snow's Cards & Gifts Spencer's Gifts Stuart's Victoria's Secret Wendy's Wolf Camera & Video

References

• Nicholson, Gilbert (February 27, 2004) "Are Eastwood retailers targeting Century Plaza?" Birmingham Business Journal
• Kent, Dawn (January 15, 2009) "Already on the decline, Birmingham's Century Plaza mall faces tougher times in slumping economy." Birmingham News

External links

• Century Plaza website
• Century Plaza leasing information at generalgrowth.com
• Century Plaza's entry at Deadmalls.com