Antioch Center

Antioch Center is an enclosed shopping mall located in Kansas City North, Missouri, United States. The mall opened in 1956, and was once home to the first location for ShowBiz Pizza Place, a pizzeria chain that would later become known as Chuck E. Cheese's.^[1] It also housed a branch of the Forum Cafeterias, the chain's first suburban location.

Antioch Center is a dead mall, with only two anchor stores, Burlington Coat Factory and Sears. Because of the mall's high vacancy rate, it is slated for redevelopment.^[2] All of the entrances to the mall have been sealed off to the public. On November 2010, Antioch Redevelopment Partners, LLC announced their plans to demolish the entire Antioch Center mall for redevelopment, except Burlington Coat Factory and Sears.

History

The mall began business as an open-air shopping center in 1956, with about 80 store spaces on two levels.^[3][4] In 1974, a Sears store was added ^[3]. Further renovation came in 1978, when the mall was fully enclosed.^[5] Macy's (Kansas City division) was an original anchor store. It was converted to the Dillard's nameplate in 1986 and that of Burlington Coat Factory in 1992. Other anchor stores that operated at the mall included Levitz Furniture, as well as Payless Cashways, a home improvement store.^[6][7]

Since the mid-1990s, the mall has been in a downward spiral. The mall's only remaining stores are Catherine's Plus Sizes, and the anchors Sears and Burlington Coat Factory. Plans were announced in October 2004 to rebuild the dying mall as a 450,000-square-foot (42,000 m²) open-air, mixed use complex, consisting of several big box stores.^[8][9]. This redevelopment was stymied by the economic recession of the late 2000s and has not been carried out. This leaves Antioch Center in an ever-advancing state of decay and neglect.

Competition

• Metro North Mall - opened in 1976
• Zona Rosa - opened in 2004

References