Valley View Mall (Roanoke)
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Valley View Mall is a 800,000 square foot regional shopping mall located in Roanoke, Virginia. It is located near the interchange of Interstate 581 with Hershberger Road (State Route 101) in the northwest section of the city.
Valley View Mall is surrounded by dozens of other restaurants, retail stores, and hotels. Major surrounding stores include Ashley Furniture, Dick's Sporting Goods, Circuit City, Best Buy, Grand Home Furnishings and Target. A 16 screen movie theater with stadium seating is also included in the complex. Various fashion retailers line the mall and surrounding area.
[edit] History
The land that became Valley View Mall was a farm owned by the Huff family until the early 1980s. The sizable farm was unusual in that it was located within the city limits of Roanoke and directly beside Interstate 581. During a flight into Roanoke Regional Airport (then called Woodrum Field) in 1976, Charlotte, North Carolina, based developer Henry Faison noticed the property and immediately realized its prime location beside Interstate 581 and a short distance from Interstate 81. Local activists and the owners of Tanglewood Mall filed suit to prevent rezoning of the Huff Farm for construction of Valley View Mall. The Virginia Supreme Court ultimately upheld the rezoning and ground was broken on August 22, 1983.
Valley View Mall opened on July 17, 1985. Anchor tenants were Sears, JC Penney, Belk (then operating as Leggett), Miller & Rhoads (later Montgomery Ward), and Thalhimer's (later Hecht's; now Macy's). The original Miller & Rhoads space is divided between an annex of Macy's on the upper level and Old Navy and several other shops on the lower level. Space remains available for a sixth anchor across from Belk near the Sears end of the mall. Along the mall's access and ring road were free standing locations of Roanoke-based electronics retailer Holdren's, home improvement warehouse Hechinger (later a Rack & Sack grocery store; now Dick's Sporting Goods), Toys R Us, Chi-Chi's (now T.G.I. Friday's), and the Olive Garden.
Valley View did not immediately displace Tanglewood, which is located closer to more affluent neighborhoods in Roanoke City and Roanoke County. Access to Valley View was often problematic with incoming traffic backing up into the northbound lanes of Interstate 581 and exiting traffic clogging the only road out of the mall. Nonetheless, more retailers such as Roanoke-based Grand Home Furnishings and Brendle's built free-standing locations adjacent to the mall. Valley View's emergence as the retail hub of much of the southwestern Virginia and southern West Virginia was complete by the mid-1990s when traffic problems were ameliorated by the construction of a new access road and a partial interchange with Interstate 581 south of the mall. Wal-Mart, Target, Staples, PetSmart, and Best Buy built locations along the access road.
[edit] Currently
The mall was sold in 2001 to Chattanooga, Tennessee, based CBL and Associates. In recent years, Valley View Mall has attracted prominent national retailers including Disney Store, Abercrombie and Fitch, Eddie Bauer, and Old Navy. Most outparcel locations near the mall have been developed since the mid-1990s. Starbucks built a freestanding location in 2005, which was its first cafe in the Roanoke Valley. Hecht's was officially renamed Macy's on September 9, 2006.
Recently, plans were announced for a "lifestyle center" to be built on a portion of what is now the parking lot near the JC Penney entrance to the mall. The development will be called "The District at Valley View", and will feature Barnes & Noble, various fashion retailers, and restaurants including Carrabba's Italian Grill, Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy, and Panera Bread.
