Santa Monica Place

Santa Monica Place
Location Santa Monica, California, USA
Opening date 1980 (reopened on August 6, 2010)
Developer Macerich
Management Macerich
Owner Macerich
Architect Frank Gehry (1980), Jon Jerde (2010)
No. of floors 3
Parking Structured
Website Official Website

Santa Monica Place is a shopping mall in Santa Monica, California. The mall is located at the south end of the famous Third Street Promenade and is also two blocks from the beach and Santa Monica Pier. It underwent a massive, three-year renovation process beginning in January 2008 and was re-opened as a modern outdoor shopping mall on August 6, 2010.

Santa Monica Place originally opened in 1980 adjacent to the old Third Street Mall and was renovated in 1991 and again in 1996. For the next ten years, the mall was a three-story, 570,000-square-foot (53,000 m2) complex. It featured 120 shops, including upscale brands such as Kenneth Cole and Williams-Sonoma, along with its largest store, Macy's. It is 152,000 sq ft (14,100 m2) on three levels. The mall also featured a Robinsons May department store, but this was closed due to the merger between Federated/May Co. in 2006.

Old indoor mall design by Frank Gehry

Santa Monica Place was designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry early in his professional career with Gruen Associates, constructed in 1980, and renovated in 1990 before being completely redesigned in 2010 as an outdoor mall by Jon Jerde. It has served as a backdrop for several films and television shows, most notably the exterior of the Ridgemont Mall in Fast Times at Ridgemont High; it has also been used in Pretty in Pink as well as Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Beverly Hills, 90210, and in the video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles.

Redevelopment

Developer, The Macerich Company, purchased the mall in 1999 and in 2004 proposed tearing down the mall and replacing it with a 10-acre (40,000 m2) complex of high-rise condos, shops and offices.[1] The plan met with strong opposition from local residents who felt the project did not meet the low-rise character of the neighborhood and would worsen traffic. In a second 2007 proposal, Macerich significantly scaled back its plans, which was received as positive by the public, and was passed. The project involves removing the mall's roof, gutting out the interior, creating public walkways, an indoor/outdoor dining deck, and other adaptive reuse measures. The two anchor department stores have also been converted, with Macy's rebuilt as Bloomingdale's and Robinson's-May replaced with a Nordstrom. Dallas-based Omniplan served as the executive architects in association with The Jerde Partnership who served as the design architects.[2] The grand reopening occurred on August 6, 2010. The architect for the redesign was Jon Jerde, it was his last major work before he died.

Santa Monica Place also contains many upscale stores such as Tiffany & Co., Hugo Boss, Michael Kors, Louis Vuitton, AllSaints, Barney's Co-Op, Emporio Armani, Burberry, Coach, Kenneth Cole, Swarovski, Ted Baker, Tory Burch and kate spade new york.

References

  1. ↑ Martha Groves, [Hopes high for low-profile mall http://articles.latimes.com/2007/mar/05/local/me-mall5], Los Angeles Times, March 5, 2007.
  2. ↑ Marissa Gluck, Santa Monica Place Swaps Gehry for Airy, The Architect's Newspaper, August 6, 2010.

External links