Riverchase Galleria

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Facts and statistics
Riverchase Galleria
The Riverchase Galleria's center court

Location	Hoover, Alabama (Birmingham)
Opening date	February 19, 1986
Developer	Jim Wilson & Associates
Management	General Growth Properties
Owner	General Growth Properties/Jim Wilson & Associates
No. of stores and services	155 [2]
No. of anchor tenants	5
Total retail floor area	1.9 million ft² [3]
No. of floors	2
Website	riverchasegalleria.com

Riverchase Galleria, locally known as The Galleria, is a large super–regional shopping mall in the Birmingham suburb of Hoover, Alabama. It is managed and partially owned by General Growth Properties and is Alabama's largest enclosed shopping center with 1.9 million square feet (222,967 m²) of total retail floor area. The Riverchase Galleria is one of the state's most popular tourist destinations attracting customers from the neighboring states of Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

Located at the intersection of US 31 (Montgomery Highway) and Interstate 459, the Riverchase Galleria complex includes the two-level Galleria Mall, the 15-story, 330-room Wynfrey Hotel, and the 17-story, 285,000 square foot (26,000 m²) Galleria Tower office building located in the mall's Center Court. The style of the Riverchase Galleria is modeled after the Houston Galleria.

The Galleria is part of the Riverchase planned development that includes a residential community and a business community located in the southern part of the city of Hoover. Riverchase was annexed into Hoover in September 1980, although it is still a part of the Birmingham Metropolitan Area.^[1]

1 History
2 The Galleria Today
3 Anchor & Major Stores
4 Former Anchors
5 Other
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

"The Galleria", as it is locally known, was opened on February 19, 1986 by developer Jim Wilson & Associates. Initially 1.2 million square feet with four anchor stores, JC Penney, Parisian, Pizitz, and Rich's, in March 1987, the mall added its first Macy's store at center court; marking that company's very first location in the Birmingham market. Also in 1987 Alabama's homegrown Pizitz department stores were acquired by McRae's of Jackson, Mississippi, and subsequently renamed. In 1995 Parisian expanded their store by almost two-thirds, while in 1996 Sears and a new wing were added, making Riverchase Galleria a total 1.9 million square feet (160,000 m²) in size. The expansion made it the largest mixed-use project in the Southeast and one of the top 10 largest mixed-use projects in the United States.

In 2003, the mall began to feel the effects of department store consolidation when the Macy's anchor store closed, while the Rich's location was renamed Rich's-Macy's. The former Macy's location was sold at that time to Saks Incorporated, by then the parent of McRae's and Parisian. Saks kept the unit vacant for over a year before reopening the refurbished store in October 2004 under its Proffitt's division, giving the company three different anchors at Riverchase. On March 6, 2005 the Rich's-Macy's organization dropped the Rich's from its name and became simply Macy's. Later in 2005, Saks sold its Proffitt's division and most of the McRae's chain to Belk, and as a result Saks closed the 131,000 sq ft (12,200 m²). McRae's store. Belk dissolved the separate Proffitt's organization and on March 8, 2006, officially converted the chain and its Riverchase location to Belk.

In late 2003, Jim Wilson & Associates (JW&A) sold 50% of the Galleria to General Growth Properties (GGP), which assumed management control. GGP also bought outright another JW&A property, the Mall of Louisiana, and is currently developing a new lifestyle center in Macon, Georgia with JW&A.

In 2006, Belk acquired the Parisian stores from Saks Incorporated. Additionally, the former McRae's location simultaneously became available for occupancy (having sat empty as a result of a lawsuit between the Pizitz family (which had retained ownership of the store real estate after its sale in 1987) and Saks Incorporated (which inherited the lease obligations of its defunct McRae's operation). [4] As part of its merger of the Parisian stores into its operations, Belk closed its current location at the Riverchase Galleria, in favor of the former Parisian. The former McRae's has since been converted to a Belk Home Store.[5] Belk celebrated the grand opening of its Home Store which took place on November 14, 2007 in the upper floor of the former McRae's.

[edit] The Galleria Today

Currently, the Galleria has 200 stores and restaurants and is anchored by 5 department stores (J.C. Penney, Belk (2 locations), Macy's, and Sears). There are two parking decks located on the property (attached to various mall entrances) of The Galleria providing approximately 5,000 total parking spaces.

Located on the Galleria property on outparcels are several restaurants including California Pizza Kitchen, Ted's Montana Grill, Bonefish Grill, J. Alexander's, and Olive Garden. The Home Depot, FedEx Kinko's, and Costco are located on other outparcels on the property. The first Just For Feet superstore opened at the Galleria in 1987 but closed with the rest of the chain in 2004. There was also a 10-screen Regal Cinemas movie theater on an outparcel of the property but it was closed in 2006 after the construction of a Rave Motion Pictures at neighboring Patton Creek Shopping Center.

In the center of the Grand Atrium/food court, sits a full-size, authentic 19th Century Dentzel Carousel. In the past, the carousel was dismantled for part of the year, with foliage and a fountain in its place, and reassembled for the holiday season. Currently, the carousel has remained in place for several years. Occasionally, the traditional carousel animals are replaced with reindeer for the holiday season as well. The cost of rides is currently $2 per person.

On May 5, 2006, the Galleria opened the state's first Sephora store. This was followed in 2007 by the announcement that one would open in at The Summit, also in Birmingham.

On November 30, 2007 the Galleria announced that Nordstrom plans to open the state's first store in the mall in 2012, assuming the anchor space first occupied by Macy's in 1987.^[2]

[edit] Anchor & Major Stores

Belk (opened 1986 as Parisian, became Belk in 2007, expanding in 2008) (203,500 sq ft (18,910 m²))
Belk Home and Children's (opened 2007 in upper level of former Pizitz/McRae's)
JCPenney (opened 1986) (135,163 sq ft (12,557 m²))
Macy's (opened 1986 as Rich's, became Macy's 2005) (220,000 sq ft (20,000 m²))
Nordstrom (Opening Spring 2012 in former Macy's/Proffitt's/Belk space) (144,000 sq ft (13,378 m²); subject to change)
Sears (opened 1995) (150,000 sq ft (14,000 m²))

[edit] Former Anchors

Belk (opened 2004 as Proffitt's in former Macy's, became Belk 2006, closed 2007, reopening as Nordstrom in 2012) (255,000 sq ft (23,700 m²))
Macy's (opened 1987, mall's first Macy's store, closed 2003, reopening as Nordstrom in 2012) (255,000 sq ft (23,700 m²))
McRae's (opened 1986 as Pizitz, became McRae's 1987, closed 2005, upper level became Belk Home Store 2007) (131,000 sq ft (12,200 m²))
Parisian (opened 1986, became Belk 2007) (203,500 sq ft (18,910 m²))
Pizitz (opened 1986, became McRae's 1987, closed 2005) (131,000 sq ft (12,200 m²))
Proffitt's (opened 2004 in former Macy's, became Belk 2006, reopening as Nordstrom in 2012) (255,000 sq ft (23,700 m²))
Rich's (opened 1986, operated as Rich's-Macy's 2003-2005, renamed Macy's 2005) (220,000 sq ft (20,000 m²))

[edit] Other

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The Riverchase Galleria is home to the world's longest skylight at some 200 feet.^{[citation needed]}
Taylor Hicks, the 2006 winner of American Idol, worked at the Riverchase Galleria, where he dressed as an Easter Bunny. Two weeks before his final victory, Hicks returned to the Galleria for a rally in his honor in the atrium, attended by an estimated 10,000 fans.^{[citation needed]}