Cottonwood Mall (Albuquerque, New Mexico)

Cottonwood Mall
Location Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
Opening date 1996
Developer Simon Property Group
Management Simon Property Group
Owner Washington Prime Group
No. of stores and services 130+
No. of anchor tenants 4 + 1 vacant
Total retail floor area 1,041,680 sq ft (96,775 m2).
No. of floors 2
Website Official Website

Cottonwood Mall is a shopping mall located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. The mall is anchored by Dillard's, JCPenney, Macy's (formerly Foley's[1]), and Sears (formerly Montgomery Ward). The mall is the second largest mall in the state of New Mexico (after Coronado Center) with a gross leasable area of 1,041,680 square feet (96,775 m2).;[2][3] it features over 130 stores, as well as a food court and Regal Cinemas (formerly United Artists) Theater.[4] Cottonwood Mall is managed by Simon Property Group, who also owns ABQ Uptown.

In May 2014, as part of Simon Property Group's spinoff of smaller malls, ownership of the mall was transferred to Simon spinoff Washington Prime Group, although Simon is retained as the mall's manager.

History

Cottonwood Mall was built on part of an 89,000 acre parcel of land given by King Philip IV of Spain in 1710 to Francisco Montes Vigil, who later sold the land, which included only some farmland along the Rio Grande, to Captain Juan Gonzales of the Spanish Army. The land grant is known as the "Alameda Land Grant" (alameda means "cottonwood grove" in Spanish). In 1929, 20,500 acres were purchased by Albert F. Black who established the Seven Bar Ranch.[5] The Black family built an adobe home and in 1947 a small airport which was known as the Seven Bar Airport, and later the Alameda Airport.[5] Surrounded by growing urban areas, the Black family sold off much of the remaining ranch for the development of new residential subdivisions. The Alameda Airport remained in operation until 1986, when it was closed to make way for 1983 plans for the 95 acre mall project.[5]

When Cottonwood Mall opened in July 1996, it was the first regional mall to open in Albuquerque in thirty years.[3][6] To this day, and with the exception of a new mall under construction in the South Valley, it is the newest completed enclosed shopping mall in New Mexico.[7] Original anchors included Dillard's, Foley's, JCPenney, Mervyn's, and Montgomery Ward.[8] The Montgomery Ward store is now a Sears, and following the closure of Mervyns in 2008, its lower level became Conn's in 2013.[9]

In 1999, Cottonwood Mall was one of three New Mexico malls involved in a federal lawsuit regarding free speech. The malls had their rights of activity regulation challenged after protesters attempted to hand out leaflets at the malls. The case was dismissed.[10] The 1972 case Lloyd Corp. v. Tanner states that shopping malls may limit speech activities (such as distribution of pamphlets) on premises.[11]

Book Co-Op

From Thanksgiving Day to New Year's Day every year, Cottonwood Mall is also home to New Mexico Book Co-Op, a locally owned bookstore which sells only local books and products;[12] such books and products are ordinarily not found in traditional bookstores.[13]

References

External links

Coordinates: 35°11′53″N 106°39′29″W / 35.198°N 106.658°W