Century Plaza

This article is about the shopping mall in Birmingham Alabama. For other uses, see Century Plaza (disambiguation).

Century Plaza

Century Plaza, showing former Sears (left) and Rich's stores in 2012.
Location	Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Coordinates	33°31′58″N86°43′27″W / 33.53278°N 86.72417°W / 33.53278; -86.72417 Coordinates: 33°31′58″N86°43′27″W / 33.53278°N 86.72417°W / 33.53278; -86.72417
Opening date	1975
Closing date	May 31, 2009
Developer	Engel Realty [1]
Owner	Lumpkin Development
No. of anchor tenants	4
Total retail floor area	750,000 square feet (70,000 m2) (GLA) [2]
No. of floors	2

Century Plaza was an enclosed shopping mall in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Opened in 1975, the mall originally included four anchor stores and more than one hundred tenants, but lost three of those anchors (JCPenney, Belk and Rich's-Macy's) in the mid-2000s. In May 2009, the mall was completely closed as Sears and the rest of the stores in the mall closed. The mall was managed by General Growth Properties of Chicago, Illinois at the time of its closure. It was demolished in 2020, ^[3] to be replaced by a 200,000 square-foot Amazon logistics facility. ^[4]

History

Century Plaza opened in 1975 on the eastern side of Birmingham, Alabama, on U. S. Route 78 (Crestwood Blvd.) near Interstate 20, across from the existing Eastwood Mall. The mall's original anchor stores included Sears (which opened in 1974), Rich's, Loveman's of Alabama and JCPenney. Loveman's later was replaced by Pizitz, which in turn became McRae's in 1987.

Rich's was dual-branded as Rich's-Macy's in 2003 when Macy's acquired the Rich's chain. The Rich's-Macy's store at Century Plaza, however, closed after only one year in operation and was never rechristened as "Macy's". ^[5] A Piccadilly Cafeteria in the mall also closed that same year.

When plans were announced to demolish Eastwood Mall across the street in 2004, two of the mall's tenants (Books-A-Million and Parisian) had announced preliminary plans to relocate to Century Plaza, with the latter taking over the McRae's space. ^[6] McRae's was eventually converted to Belk in 2006 when the chain was acquired, but closed later that same year. JCPenney also closed in 2006, and many inline tenants began to close as well. In February 2009, it was announced that Sears, the last remaining anchor, would close its store by May 31. ^{[7] [8]}

Anchor stores

North Anchor: JC Penney (1975 - 2006)

East Anchor: Loveman's (1975 - 1980), Pizitz (1980 - 1987), McRaes (1987 - 2006), Belk (2006 - 2006)

South Anchor: Rich's (1975 - 2004)

West Anchor: Sears (1974 - 2009)

Mall closing

Century Plaza closed at the end of business on May 31, 2009. At the time of its closing, fewer than 40 stores, including Foot Locker, Champs Sports, Finish Line and RadioShack remained open in the mall. ^[9] General Growth Properties announced that Sears would remain open through June 14 to complete the liquidation of the store. ^[10]

In December 2017, the Howard Hughes Corporation sold the mall for $3 million to Lumpkin Development, a real estate company based in Pelham, Alabama. Lumpkin said that the Sears store would be converted into a self-storage facility, and that the rest of the mall was available for rent. ^[11]

In May 2020, it was reported that the site was being considered for development as a last-mile delivery center by Amazon. ^[12]

As of November 12, 2020, the mall has begun demolition for the Amazon last mile delivery center. ^[13]

References

1. "Shop for the tried, make it new Engel Realty has a lasting recipe: Buy a good value, add more". The Business Journals. April 26, 2004. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
2. "Century Plaza". International Council of Shopping Centers. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2009.
3. "Century Plaza remembered: Vintage photos of demolished Birmingham mall". January 6, 2021.
4. "Birmingham takes steps on 2 big economic projects, 600 jobs projected". July 21, 2020.
5. Nicholson, Gilbert (January 16, 2004). "Rich's-Macy's at Century Plaza to close". Birmingham Business Journal . Retrieved May 23, 2009.
6. Nicholson, Gilbert (February 27, 2004). "Are Eastwood retailers targeting Century Plaza?". Birmingham Business Journal . Retrieved May 23, 2009.
7. Cooper, Lauren B. (February 27, 2009). "Sears in Century Plaza to close". Birmingham Business Journal . Retrieved May 23, 2009.
8. "Birmingham mall to lose its final anchor store". The Anniston Star. March 1, 2009. p. 11. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
9. "Store directory". Century Plaza official website. Archived from the original on November 3, 2006. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
10. Kent, Dawn (June 1, 2009). "Birmingham's Century Plaza Mall shuttered; Sears remains open 2 more weeks for liquidation sale". The Birmingham News . Retrieved June 1, 2009.
11. Edgemon, Erin (January 30, 2018). "Birmingham's Century Plaza sells for $3 million". The Birmingham News . Retrieved February 26, 2018.
12. "BBJ: Amazon a potential new client for the old Century Plaza". wbrc.com. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
13. "Demolition begins at Birmingham's Century Plaza". al. November 12, 2020. Retrieved December 22, 2020.

External links

• Century Plaza archived website from 2004