Bel Air Mall
Encyclopedia
Bel Air Mall is a super-regional shopping mall, located in Mobile
, Alabama
, United States
. The mall has a gross leasable area
of 1,345,000 square feet (125,000 m²). It is the oldest continuously operating enclosed super-regional mall in Alabama and serves as one of the primary retail venues for the west Mobile shopping district located at the vicinity of Airport Boulevard and Interstate 65
. Currently, Belk
, Dillard's
, JCPenney, Sears
and Target
serve as the mall's anchor store
s; the mall also features more than 130 stores and restaurants.
, William Lyon
and Jay Altmayer as the centerpiece of an automobile-centric edge city known as Bel Air. In its original configuration, the mall consisted of a one-level 900 feet (274.3 m) long retail corridor of fifty in-line tenants anchored by Sears and local department store chain Hammel's. Over the years, the mall would be complemented by extensive commercial developments in the form of movie theaters, communal strip malls, office complexes and upscale apartment complexes in surrounding Bel Air development sites.
Hammel's would become D. H. Holmes
in 1973. D. H. Holmes
, a New Orleans-based department store, subsequently added a second level to the building and transformed it into a 200000 square feet (18,580.6 m²) hub for its Gulf Coast operations. In the mid-1970s, a 191000 square feet (17,744.5 m²) JCPenney store would serve as a two-level anchor for Bel Air Mall’s new north-south enclosed mall corridor. With the completion of this mall expansion project, Bel Air Mall became Alabama’s largest regional mall, a title it would retain until the 1986 debut of Riverchase Galleria
in suburban Birmingham.
In February 1984, Parisian would serve as the 90000 square feet (8,361.3 m²) anchor of a 122000 square feet (11,334.2 m²) mall expansion just east of JCPenney. Sporting a modern interpretation of French Colonial architectural style, this expansion included a food court featuring a sunken seating area, landscaping and water features, a Ruby Tuesday casual dining restaurant and several new in-line retailers. Its exterior entrance would be marked with a two-level structure, although the second level was inaccessible and essentially functionless. In 1989 Arkansas-based Dillard's would enter the South Alabama market, with the acquisition of the troubled D. H. Holmes chain.
Bel Air Mall began the 1990s with a $14 million dollar overhaul which updated the mall’s image. The signage was updated. The white modernist facades of the mall complex were enhanced with soft and warmer tones, the massive surface lots were extensively landscaped, and in the most noticeable design change, the two-tiered entrance structures which flanked the food court and main entrances were replaced with less dramatic canopied structures.
Bel Air Mall’s most dramatic expansion and renovation would occur in 1996. In March of that year, discount retailer Target
announced it would be locating its first South Alabama store at the mall. This served as the catalyst for a $40 million dollar project that would see expansion and related renovation projects at the four other anchor stores. The food court and a couple of in-line merchants, including Bailey Banks and Biddle, were demolished for Target’s 116000 square feet (10,776.8 m²) debut. Sears would increase by 90000 square feet (8,361.3 m²), including a new 70000 square feet (6,503.2 m²) second level and a more contemporary building facade. Parisian engulfed a mall corridor that previously connected the food court and the north-south mall in order to expand to 122000 square feet (11,334.2 m²). Dillard's undertook a substantial interior and exterior renovation, while JCPenney made storewide changes.
The mall would become Colonial Mall Bel Air in the summer of 2000, following Colonial Properties acquisition of the mall in 1998. It would then revert back to Bel Air Mall in 2007. Following the sale of 38 Parisian stores to Belk in August 2006, the Parisian store at Bel Air Mall was rebranded as a Belk store in September 2007.
In November 2008, fashion retailer Forever 21
opened a 26000 square feet (2,415.5 m²) XXI Forever store in the former Woolworth's
location. Most recently, that general retail space was home to several of Foot Locker
's niche-oriented shoe store formats.
Throughout the spring and summer of 2010, JCPenney underwent its most significant renovation in fourteen years. Brighter flooring and upgraded fixtures enhanced the store's new racetrack layout. The opening of a Sephora
vendor shop on the first level, visible from the main mall entrance, was among the store's new additions.
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The mall has a gross leasable area
Gross leasable area
Gross leasable area in the retail development industry is a term applied to shopping malls, lifestyle centers, outlet malls and other retail centers to indicate the amount of floor space available to be rented...
of 1,345,000 square feet (125,000 m²). It is the oldest continuously operating enclosed super-regional mall in Alabama and serves as one of the primary retail venues for the west Mobile shopping district located at the vicinity of Airport Boulevard and Interstate 65
Interstate 65
Interstate 65 is a major Interstate Highway in the United States. The southern terminus is located at an intersection with Interstate 10 in Mobile, Alabama, and its northern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 90 , U.S. Route 12, and U.S...
. Currently, Belk
Belk
Belk is a department store chain founded in 1888 in Monroe, North Carolina, today part of the Charlotte metropolitan area. After the founding of the first Belk store, the company grew in size and influence throughout the South via the chain in the USA, with its stores primarily located in the...
, Dillard's
Dillard's
Dillard's, Inc. is a department store chain in the United States, with 330 stores in 29 states. Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, Dillard's locations are concentrated in Texas and Florida; with a major presence in other states including Arizona, Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Missouri,...
, JCPenney, Sears
Sears Holdings Corporation
Sears Holdings Corporation is a retail conglomerate formed in 2005 by the merger of Sears, Roebuck and Co., of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, with Kmart Holdings Corporation, of Troy, Michigan...
and Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
serve as the mall's anchor store
Anchor store
In retail, an anchor store, draw tenant, anchor tenant, or key tenant is one of the larger stores in a shopping mall, usually a department store or a major retail chain....
s; the mall also features more than 130 stores and restaurants.
History
More than ten years of research and planning took place before Bel Air Mall finally came to fruition in August 1967. Designed by the architecture firm of Herbert H. Johnson Associates of Washington, DC, the enclosed mall was developed by WKRG-TV founder Kenneth R. GiddensKenneth R. Giddens
Kenneth R. Giddens was an architect and movie theater owner, but most notably the broadcaster who put two radio stations and one television station based in Mobile, Alabama on the air, all at one point in time bearing the call sign “WKRG”...
, William Lyon
William Lyon
William A. Lyon was an American film editor, from 1935 to 1971.He was born in Texas, and died in California. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Film Editing six times, and won twice, for From Here to Eternity and Picnic .-External links:...
and Jay Altmayer as the centerpiece of an automobile-centric edge city known as Bel Air. In its original configuration, the mall consisted of a one-level 900 feet (274.3 m) long retail corridor of fifty in-line tenants anchored by Sears and local department store chain Hammel's. Over the years, the mall would be complemented by extensive commercial developments in the form of movie theaters, communal strip malls, office complexes and upscale apartment complexes in surrounding Bel Air development sites.
Hammel's would become D. H. Holmes
D. H. Holmes
D. H. Holmes was a New Orleans department store and later a New Orleans based chain of department stores. The company was founded in 1842 by Daniel Henry Holmes, after whom it is named. In 1849 he moved his headquarters to Canal Street....
in 1973. D. H. Holmes
D. H. Holmes
D. H. Holmes was a New Orleans department store and later a New Orleans based chain of department stores. The company was founded in 1842 by Daniel Henry Holmes, after whom it is named. In 1849 he moved his headquarters to Canal Street....
, a New Orleans-based department store, subsequently added a second level to the building and transformed it into a 200000 square feet (18,580.6 m²) hub for its Gulf Coast operations. In the mid-1970s, a 191000 square feet (17,744.5 m²) JCPenney store would serve as a two-level anchor for Bel Air Mall’s new north-south enclosed mall corridor. With the completion of this mall expansion project, Bel Air Mall became Alabama’s largest regional mall, a title it would retain until the 1986 debut of Riverchase Galleria
Riverchase Galleria
Riverchase Galleria, locally known as The Galleria, is a large super–regional shopping mall in the Birmingham suburb of Hoover, Alabama. It is the 25th largest shopping mall in the United States...
in suburban Birmingham.
In February 1984, Parisian would serve as the 90000 square feet (8,361.3 m²) anchor of a 122000 square feet (11,334.2 m²) mall expansion just east of JCPenney. Sporting a modern interpretation of French Colonial architectural style, this expansion included a food court featuring a sunken seating area, landscaping and water features, a Ruby Tuesday casual dining restaurant and several new in-line retailers. Its exterior entrance would be marked with a two-level structure, although the second level was inaccessible and essentially functionless. In 1989 Arkansas-based Dillard's would enter the South Alabama market, with the acquisition of the troubled D. H. Holmes chain.
Bel Air Mall began the 1990s with a $14 million dollar overhaul which updated the mall’s image. The signage was updated. The white modernist facades of the mall complex were enhanced with soft and warmer tones, the massive surface lots were extensively landscaped, and in the most noticeable design change, the two-tiered entrance structures which flanked the food court and main entrances were replaced with less dramatic canopied structures.
Bel Air Mall’s most dramatic expansion and renovation would occur in 1996. In March of that year, discount retailer Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
announced it would be locating its first South Alabama store at the mall. This served as the catalyst for a $40 million dollar project that would see expansion and related renovation projects at the four other anchor stores. The food court and a couple of in-line merchants, including Bailey Banks and Biddle, were demolished for Target’s 116000 square feet (10,776.8 m²) debut. Sears would increase by 90000 square feet (8,361.3 m²), including a new 70000 square feet (6,503.2 m²) second level and a more contemporary building facade. Parisian engulfed a mall corridor that previously connected the food court and the north-south mall in order to expand to 122000 square feet (11,334.2 m²). Dillard's undertook a substantial interior and exterior renovation, while JCPenney made storewide changes.
The mall would become Colonial Mall Bel Air in the summer of 2000, following Colonial Properties acquisition of the mall in 1998. It would then revert back to Bel Air Mall in 2007. Following the sale of 38 Parisian stores to Belk in August 2006, the Parisian store at Bel Air Mall was rebranded as a Belk store in September 2007.
In November 2008, fashion retailer Forever 21
Forever 21
Forever 21 is an American chain of clothing retailers with branches in major cities in The United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East that offers fashion and accessories for young women and men....
opened a 26000 square feet (2,415.5 m²) XXI Forever store in the former Woolworth's
F. W. Woolworth Company
The F. W. Woolworth Company was a retail company that was one of the original American five-and-dime stores. The first successful Woolworth store was opened on July 18, 1879 by Frank Winfield Woolworth in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store"...
location. Most recently, that general retail space was home to several of Foot Locker
Foot Locker
Foot Locker, Inc. is an American sportswear and footwear retailer, with its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and operating in approximately 20 countries worldwide. Formerly known as Venator Group, Inc., it is the successor corporation to the F.W. Woolworth Company , and many of...
's niche-oriented shoe store formats.
Throughout the spring and summer of 2010, JCPenney underwent its most significant renovation in fourteen years. Brighter flooring and upgraded fixtures enhanced the store's new racetrack layout. The opening of a Sephora
Sephora
Sephora is a chain of cosmetics stores founded in France in 1970 and acquired by Paris-based conglomerate LVMH in 1997. The Sephora chain includes more than 750 stores in 17 countries...
vendor shop on the first level, visible from the main mall entrance, was among the store's new additions.
Anchor stores
- Sears
- Dillard'sDillard'sDillard's, Inc. is a department store chain in the United States, with 330 stores in 29 states. Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, Dillard's locations are concentrated in Texas and Florida; with a major presence in other states including Arizona, Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Missouri,...
- JCPenney
- BelkBelkBelk is a department store chain founded in 1888 in Monroe, North Carolina, today part of the Charlotte metropolitan area. After the founding of the first Belk store, the company grew in size and influence throughout the South via the chain in the USA, with its stores primarily located in the...
- TargetTarget CorporationTarget Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
Former Anchor Stores
- Hammel's (later D.H. Holmes)
- D. H. HolmesD. H. HolmesD. H. Holmes was a New Orleans department store and later a New Orleans based chain of department stores. The company was founded in 1842 by Daniel Henry Holmes, after whom it is named. In 1849 he moved his headquarters to Canal Street....
(now Dillard's) - Parisian (now Belk)