Citadel Mall

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Citadel Mall opened in Charleston, South Carolina in July 1981 as a project of national mall developer Jacobs, Visconti & Jacobs of Cleveland, Ohio. Citadel Mall is located at the intersection of Sam Rittenberg Boulevard (S.C. Highway 7) and Savannah Highway (U.S. Hwy. 17) at the junction of Interstate 526 in the heavily commercialized west of the Ashley suburb of Charleston.

At the time of its opening, Citadel Mall was anchored by Sears which relocated from Downtown Charleston, Belk, which shuttered a 1950's store in North Charleston and relocated to the mall, and Thalhimer's, an upscale department store new to South Carolina owned by the Carter Hawley Hale corporation.

In addition to the 3 anchor stores, the mall featured approximately 100 national specialty retailers and eateries - many of which were new to the Charleston area. The mall was well-received in Charleston and was the catalyst for many nearby large-scale commercial projects as shopping centers and restaurants were built all around the mall's perimeter.

Jacobs, Visconti & Jacobs later became The Richard E. Jacobs Group in the 1990's. The first major change at the mall occurred in 1992 when it was announced that Thalhimer's, now owned by the May Department Store Company would be folded into the Hecht's Department Store chain and the Charleston location would be sold to Dillard's. Dillard's operated in the former Thalhimer's building until 1994 when they relocated to a newly constructed, much larger new building at the mall.

Dillard's sub-leased the former Thalhimer's building to JCPenney, although the store never seemed to catch favor with the mall's fashion conscious shoppers and abruptly closed less than a year after opening. Target purchased the vacant two-story JCPenney building and demolished it to make way for a new Target store - the first in Charleston. Target's success at Citadel Mall prompted the company to quickly construct three other locations in the Charleston area.

Not to be out done by Dillard's and its luxurious and spacious new store, Belk announced plans to construct a 200,000 square feet two-level store on the back of the mall next to Dillard's. Belk sold their vacated building to Parisian, a division of Saks Incorporated, who completely gutted the interior and opened an upscale two-level department store. It was announced in August 2006 that Saks Incorporated will sell their Parisian chain to Belk Incorporated and that all Parisian stores will be converted to Belk in the third quarter of 2007.

Belk recently told CBL & Associates that the Parisian store will close on February 2, 2007. No new tenant has been announced as of yet.

The Richard E. Jacobs Group added a Food Court and completely remodeled the mall's interior in the early 2000's. Shortly thereafter, Jacobs divested the majority of its mall portfolio and sold Citadel Mall to CBL & Associates. CBL added a sixth anchor store to the mix in 2005 - Dick's Sporting Goods on an outparcel next to the mall's freestanding six screen AMC Cinemas.

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