 The Promenade in 2011 before tenants left | |
 | |
| Location | Woodland Hills, Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 34°10′51″N118°36′15″W / 34.180832°N 118.604257°W /34.180832; -118.604257 |
| Opening date | March 1973; 52 years ago (1973-03) |
| Previous names |
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| Developer | Coldwell Banker[1] |
| Owner | Stan Kroenke |
| No. of stores and services | Less than 10 (July 2016)[2] |
| No. ofanchor tenants | 0 (3 at peak) |
| Total retail floor area | 615,400 sq ft (57,170 m2) |
| No. of floors | 2 (1 in former Barnes & Noble and 3 in former Macy's) |
| Parking | 2,662 |
The Promenade (formerly known asWestfield Promenade) is adead shopping mall in theWoodland Hills neighborhood ofLos Angeles, California.
The mall is located two blocks away from theWestfield Topanga Mall, and is owned by a private investment group that includesLos Angeles Rams ownerStan Kroenke's company. Kroenke has also acquiredseveral adjacent properties.
Opened in 1973 as the Woodland Hills Promenade,[1] the shopping mall was originally a high-fashion center anchored byJ. W. Robinson's,Bullocks Wilshire andSaks Fifth Avenue. The Bullocks Wilshire store was renamedI. Magnin in 1990 and in 1995 became a Bullock's Men's store, being renamedMacy's in 1996. The Robinson's store was closed in 1993[3] and sold toBullock's,[4] becoming Macy's in 1996 as well. Following the 1994Northridge earthquake, Saks Fifth Avenue used the opportunity to close their underperforming store[5] and it was demolished in 1994 for the addition of the AMC Theatre, which opened in 1996.[6][7]
The 34-acre retail development (14 ha) was conceived and developed by Kaiser Aetna as part of their master commercial-retail-residential development plan for their section of the massive former Warner Ranch now known as theWarner Center.[8]Coldwell Banker was the property manager andErnest W. Hahn, Inc., was the general contractor. A few months before the first store opened, Kaiser Aetna sold their interest in the mall to Continental Illinois Properties for an estimated $15 million.[9] In March 1973, Robinson's was the first anchor store to open.[10] Both Saks[11] and Bullock's Wilshire[12] followed by opening five months later.
In 1989, the center was acquired by the O'Connor Group from Pan American Properties.[13][14]
The center was briefly acquired bySimon Property Group in 1997, before being sold in 1998 to Westfield America, Inc., a precursor toThe Westfield Group.[15] At that time it was renamed "Westfield Shoppingtown Promenade". The "Shoppingtown" name was dropped in June 2005.[16]
The addition of the movie theatre during renovations after the 1994Northridge earthquake, more recent renovations in 2001[17] and the addition of several new retailers and restaurants briefly reignited interest in the center. A redevelopment of theWestfield Topanga (which is also owned byWestfield) in the mid-2000s overshadowed the Promenade, causing several tenants such asBarnes & Noble Booksellers to leave.[18] In 2015,Macy's shuttered their two Promenade stores.[19]
By September 2015, Westfield had purchased the properties that it did not own within the mall area, usually owned by anchors, to enable the company to resell the property as an entire package for other uses. Tenants have filed a lawsuit against Westfield for allowing the property to deteriorate.[20] According to a July 2016Los Angeles Daily News article, Westfield told their tenants that they plan to close the interior of the mall soon. Vacancy rates were estimated to be over 80%. It was also reported that Westfield officials told a Woodland Hills neighborhood council that Westfield was considering replacing the mall with upscale apartments.[2] TheLos Angeles Times called the decaying retail property "a drag on the neighborhood" while aLos Angeles City Councilman called it a "blighted site".[21] Around this time in 2016, Westfield removed its logo from all of the malls's signage and renamed the mallThe Promenade.[20]
In October 2016, Westfield announced plans to replace the mall with a $1.5 billion mixed-use residential and retail development namedPromenade 2035 that would include 1,400 upscale housing units, a grocery/pharmacy, a hotel, an office complex, plus an entertainment and sports center. The housing units would range from studio units to luxury villas.[21] Promenade 2035 would have opened in stages, starting in 2020 and continuing on until 2035. Exterior tenants, such as the AMC Promenade 16, would gradually be moved over to Westfield Topanga's large expansion,The Village atWestfield Topanga, while the interior of the mall was being demolished.[22][23][24]
In December 2017, Westfield was acquired by French commercial real estate companyUnibail-Rodamco, which would later be renamedUnibail-Rodamco-Westfield.[25]
In 2018, residents of the surrounding area voiced their concerns with Westfield's Promenade 2035 plan, arguing that it would not improve the inadequate existing roads and transportation systems in the surrounding area and would be detrimental to the local community, which would cause delays.[26][27][28][29]
In February 2020, a few weeks prior to theCOVID-19 pandemic outbreak, AMC announced its plans to move a few blocks to the nearby Westfield Topanga at the location where Sears once stood.[30] After the pandemic severity decreased, AMC reopened nearly all of its shuttered theaters in March 2021.[31] Since construction at the nearby Topanga was delayed due to the pandemic, AMC Theatres relocation was delayed by almost two years.[32] The AMC Promenade closed permanently on June 1, 2022, and the new multiplex at Westfield Topanga opened the following day.[33]
In December 2020, theLos Angeles City Council officially approved Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield's "Promenade 2035" plan to replace the dead mall with a new development that would include a sports arena, two hotels, a 28-story office tower and more than 1,400 new apartments calling it a "mini-city ... within this larger city".[34]
In 2021, it was reported thatUnibail-Rodamco-Westfield would sell its commercial properties in the United States.[35][36] As part of that divestment, the dead mall was sold in March 2022 to an unnamed investor group that was later confirmed to be sports owner and real estate developerStan Kroenke, with anticipated plans to convert the property into a mixed use development and practice facility for theLos Angeles Rams.[37][38][39]
In February 2022,Ruth's Chris Steak House announced that it would vacate the mall by July and relocate to a nearby Woodland Hills location.[40] After a long delay, Ruth's Chris finally moved in December 2023.[41]
The Promenade currently features the following businesses, amongst others:
The remodeled mall will feature the AMC 16 theaters along with suchlifestyle stores as Restoration Hardware and Z Gallerie.
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‡ Managed with no ownership interest. World Trade Center space is owned by thePort Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the Fulton Center space is owned by theMetropolitan Transportation Authority. | ||||||