Westfield Topanga
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| Westfield Topanga | |
| Mall facts and statistics | |
|---|---|
| Location | Canoga Park, California, USA |
| Opening date | February 10, 1964 |
| Developer | May Centers, Inc. |
| Management | The Westfield Group |
| Owner | The Westfield Group |
| No. of stores and services | 230[1] |
| No. of anchor tenants | five[1] |
| Total retail floor area | 1.6 million sq.ft.[1] |
| Parking | 5,448 [1] |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Website | http://westfield.com/topanga |
Westfield Topanga, formerly known as the Westfield Shoppingtown Topanga and more commonly known to locals as the Topanga Mall or Topanga Plaza, is a two-story shopping mall consisting of 230 tenants spread across three sections. It is located on Topanga Canyon Boulevard on the border between the communities of Canoga Park and Woodland Hills in the western part of Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley and is owned and operated by The Westfield Group.
Nordstrom, Robinsons-May, and Sears previously anchored the center. While all three stores continue to do business in the mall, the Robinsons-May was renamed Macy's on September 9, 2006, the Nordstrom was moved to a custom-built new building on the opposite side of the mall during restructuring, and a Neiman Marcus will soon occupy a new building on the former site of the Nordstroms.
A massive $330,000,000 expansion meant to refreash the mall and make it more upsclae began in 2006, with work set to be finished by late 2007. Over 100 new stores including a large new Target, several new restaurants, a "dining terrace", a two-story indoor carosel and three new parking structures are key parts of the expansion, along with the new Neiman Marcus, which is set to open in 2008 as part of phase two of the expansion.
Contents |
[edit] History
Opened February 10, 1964, Topanga Plaza was California's first enclosed shopping mall. It was originally anchored by The Broadway, May Company and Montgomery Ward. Nordstrom was added in 1983.
In 1992 May Centers, Inc., the original developer, was renamed CenterMark Properties and sold by May Department Stores in 1993 to a consortium led by Westfield Holdings, Ltd., a predecessor of The Westfield Group.
The May Company location was renamed Robinsons-May in 1993 and completely rebuilt following the 1994 Northridge earthquake, The Broadway location was sold to Sears in 1996, and the Montgomery Ward closed in 1999 following the chain's bankruptcy. As previously mentioned, Robinsons-May was renamed Macy's in September 2006, and despite rumors to the contrary, the store will continue operating despite the close proximity of a second Macy's store at the Westfield Promenade up the street.
[edit] 2006-2008 Expansion
The Westfield Group recently completed the first phase of an expansion project, which added nearly 100 stores, including a large two-story Target, and three-story Nordstrom department store. A stunning "Canyon" court area, several new restaurants with a cafe-style dining terrace, "Westfield Playtown" for children, "family lounge," and indoor carousel were also added to the existing mall. The former Montgomery Ward, which had been largely out of use for years, was demolished as part of this project.
The Nordstrom was moved to a new building at the southeast corner of the parking lot, which faces Victory Boulevard and Owensmouth Avenue. The Neiman Marcus will be opened in fall 2008 at the site of the former Nordstrom building, on the mall's west end; demolition of the old Nordstrom is currently taking place (February, 2007). Three new parking structures have been erected to supplant the ground level parking lost when the mall's outer walls were expanded to accommodate the new stores, the largest of these being the five-level Owensmouth Garage complete with an electronic parking space indicator system.
Westfield also owns the Westfield Promenade mall, located just two blocks down Topanga Canyon Blvd. Westfield has on numerous occasion examined plans to connect the two centers, with methods such as an enclosed bridge and a light monorail system being discussed. On all such occasions, the discussions have ended without conclusion due to concerns over logistics, cost and other issues; as of early 2007, the most recent discussions have again ended in indecision. Another new, smaller complex to be built by Westfield and placed between the two malls may go into the construction phase in mid or late 2007, which has lead to rumors that the company will then commit to a system for connecting the three complexes.
[edit] Anchors and Majors
- Macy's (Formerly May Company and later Robinsons-May)
- Nordstrom
- Neiman Marcus (Opening 2008)
- Target
- Sears
[edit] Interesting Fact
This mall has become somewhat famous locally since various Hollywood celebrities can occasionally be spotted there, it has also been used in the United States in many television commercials and movies such as Malibu's Most Wanted and "Divorce American Style."
