Gateway Mall (Nebraska)

The mall opened as Gateway Shopping Center in 1960, developed by Bankers Life Insurance Company of Nebraska (now Ameritas Life Insurance Company) at 60th and O streets on land adjacent to its headquarters. It was an open-air mall anchored by Montgomery Ward and local department store Miller & Paine.

An expansion was completed in 1971. Brandeis added a department store, in the unusual location of directly next door to Miller & Paine (typically, mall department store anchors are located apart from each other in separate wings). This project included an enclosed mall corridor and new Sears.

A new wing leading to a JCPenney department store was added in 1995; Penney's had been located in a former grocery store in a strip mall behind the shopping center after moving from downtown Lincoln. The original, open-air mall was also enclosed at this time, with a food court built in the southern end of the Center Court.

A $45 million renovation in 2004-2005 added a new food court and carousel in the Center Court area. The old Montgomery Ward space (vacated in 2001) was refitted with a new Steve and Barry's (which has since closed due to that retailer's bankruptcy) and Qdoba Mexican Grill, among other retailers.

Bankers Life sold the mall in 1985 to Jacobs Visconsi Jacobs (later The Jacobs Group). Westfield Group bought the mall in 2001 and renamed it Westfield Shoppingtown Gateway. In June, 2012, Starwood Capital Group acquired the mall from Westfield and the name changed back to Gateway Mall.[1][2] The mall is managed by JLL Associates.

In June 2013, several new stores opened at the mall, including Forever 21, which replaced one level of the former Montgomery Ward/Steve & Barry's.[3]

In June 2016, it was announced that Dick's Sporting Goods would build a 70,000-square-foot store at the mall, which opened September 22, 2017. It will be built on the site of Granite City Food & Brewery, which has built a restaurant just west of the previous location.[4]

On April 18, 2018, it was announced that Younkers would be closing as parent company The Bon-Ton Stores was going out of business. The store closed on August 29, 2018.[5] Dillard's took over the empty space.

On December 28, 2018, it was announced that Sears would also be closing as part of a plan to close 80 stores nationwide. The store has closed as of March 2019.[6]

On November 19, 2019, it was announced that Forever 21 would be closing as well as part of a plan to close 178 stores nationwide. The store closed on November 23, 2019.[7]

In May 2022, Starwood Capital sold the property to Washington Prime Group for $51.5 million.[8]

Gateway Mall

• "Center court centerpiece," Lincoln Journal Star, September 26, 2004.
• "Gateway's goal to keep shoppers headed east," Lincoln Journal Star, March 6, 2005.

• Official site