Crossroads Plaza is an outdoorshopping center located inCary,North Carolina, United States. The shopping center was opened in 1992 and has been added onto and renovated several times since then. It contains over 60 stores, including national chains and locally owned stores.[1]
The Crossroads site comprises 237 acres (96 ha) and was originally developed by NCNB (nowBank of America), acting as trustee for the Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio,[2] as a commercial development with an enclosed shopping mall plus 250,000-square-foot (23,000 m2) of non-retail space including acorporate park and hotel. NCNB enlistedLJ Hooker Corporation, who was embarking on an ill-fated plan to build malls across the United States, to develop the mall on 87.7 acres (35.5 ha) at the northern end of the site.
Hooker filed plans in 1988 for a $240 million regional mall with 1,350,000-square-foot (125,000 m2) of retail space on two levels, five department stores ranging from 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m2) to 200,000-square-foot (19,000 m2), a 65-foot (20 m) tall glass-roofed center court enclosing 1.5-acre (6,100 m2), and 6,853 parking spaces.[3] The planned development would have increased Cary's tax base by 18%. Site clearance and road work began, but construction was halted when a national recession forced the company to declare bankruptcy in late 1989.
The Crossroads Mall site was soon purchased by New Market Development. In 1990, they filed drastically changed plans. Instead of an enclosed mall at the center of the site, they proposed a 628,610-square-foot (58,400 m2)power center with 11big-box anchors and a few smaller shops lining the edge of the site and 3,458 parking spaces at the center.[4] Although the new proposal had half as much retail space, it was very large for an outdoor retail center at the time.
The plaza opened in 1991 with anchors includingToys "R" Us,Uptons department store,Stein Mart,Bookstar, Pet Depot,Marshalls,REI,OfficeMax,Home Quarters Warehouse, andPhar-Mor.Service Merchandise opened after the grand opening.[5]
Several of the original anchors have changed. Bookstar shut after acquisition byBarnes & Noble, and others have gone bankrupt: Home Quarters was replaced withDick's Sporting Goods andBed Bath & Beyond (which closed in 2023 when the company went bankrupt. It has since been replaced byBob’s Discount Furniture), Phar-Mor was replaced byBest Buy, Service Merchandise was replaced byDSW, Inc. andA.C. Moore (which has since been subdivided intoAerie andAmerican Eagle Outfitters) and Uptons was replaced withMichaels andOld Navy. Pet Depot becamePetco, REI was replaced byHomeGoods, OfficeMax was replaced byRoss, Rugged Warehouse was replaced by Home Centric, andToys "R" Us closed in 2018 after their "Going out of Business" sale. Its space was filled byHobby Lobby in February 2020.[6]
The center was purchased byKimco Realty in 2014,[7] which also owns the adjacent Centrum at Crossroads shopping center.
Since Crossroads was built, several adjacent or nearby shopping centers have been established. These surrounding centers have grocery stores or discount stores as anchors, though they also include competitors of anchors of Crossroads itself.Cary Towne Center, built in 1979 and closed in 2021, was located approximately 1-mile (1.6 km) from Crossroads Plaza down Walnut Street.
35°45′40″N78°44′17″W / 35.760983°N 78.738102°W /35.760983; -78.738102