Buzz Westfall Plaza on the Boulevard

Buzz Westfall Plaza on the Boulevard is a shopping center in Jennings, Missouri. Opened in 1955 as Northland Shopping Center, it initially featured a Famous-Barr department store as its anchor store. Extensive redevelopment of the property began in 2005, resulting in a strip mall anchored by Schnucks and Aldi, with a vacancy last occupied by Target.

Buzz Westfall Plaza on the Boulevard
LocationJennings, Missouri, U.S.
Coordinates38.729°N 90.275°W / 38.729; -90.275
Address8023 West Florissant Avenue
Opening date1955 (as Northland Shopping Center)
2006 (as Buzz Westfall Plaza)
DeveloperMay Centers (Northland)
Sansone Group (Buzz Westfall Plaza)
OwnerNewport Capital Partners
No. of anchor tenants3 (2 open, 1 vacant)
Total retail floor area372,098 square feet (34,569.0 m2)
No. of floors2 (Northland)
1 (Buzz Westfall)
Public transit accessBus interchange MetroBus

History

Northland Shopping Center

May Centers, a subsidiary of The May Department Stores Company, which then owned the St. Louis, Missouri-based department store Famous-Barr, announced plans to build Northland Shopping Center in 1954. Under these plans, a four-story 325,000-square-foot (30,200 m2) Famous-Farr store would be the central anchor store. At time of construction, this would be the biggest department store in the St. Louis area.[1] By October 1954, several tenants had been announced for the center, including a local jewelry store, a beauty salon, and a dry cleaners.[2] Famous-Barr opened for business on August 19, 1955.[3] Edison Brothers Stores operated two shoe stores at Northland: Burt's and Baker's.[4] By the end of the month, the center's second-biggest tenant had opened as well: an S. S. Kresge Corporation dime store.[5]

A 1977 article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described Northland as "the first auto age shopping center in the metropolitan area" and noted that the center's revenues had allowed for construction of sewer lines to accommodate newer housing developments surrounding the property.[6] A directory published that same year indicated over 50 shops, including Lerner New York (now known as New York & Company), Walgreens, Schnucks, Waldenbooks, RadioShack, Hickory Farms, Kinney Shoes, a bowling alley, and a movie theater.[7]

In 1987, Kmart eliminated all stores in the S. S. Kresge division.[8]

In July 1992, then owner CenterMark Properties (formerly May Centers, a subsidiary of May Department Stores), sold the ailing Northland Shopping Center to San Antonio-based Spigel Properties for an undisclosed amount, just a year before CenterMark was sold to a consortium headed by Des Moines-based General Growth Properties and also included Australia-based Westfield Holdings Ltd. and Whitehall Street Real Estate L.P. III, an investment partnership formed by Goldman, Sachs & Co. At the time of the sale of the shopping center to Spigel, Famous-Barr was in the process of opening a newer store in the nearby Jamestown Mall.[9] By early 1994, the Famous-Barr store was found to be in a state of disrepair, with portions of the store partitioned off and non-functional bathrooms.[10] Famous-Barr finally closed their store there in June 1994.[11] Following the closure of Famous-Barr, the center grew increasingly vacant, and was purchased by Sansone Group in late 2000 for redevelopment.[12][13] Demolition of the structures finally occurred in 2005 with the last business at the site closing in June.[14]

Buzz Westfall Plaza

In 2006, the shopping center officially reopened as Buzz Westfall Plaza on the Boulevard after the complete demolition of the previous structures on the site. The first major tenant to open in the new complex was Target. Soon afterward, a relocated Schnucks grocery store was announced as the second major tenant.[15] Sansone Group sold the shopping center to Chicago-based Newport Capital Partners in 2015.[16] Target closed in 2016.[17]

References
  1. "Immediate start on Famous-Barr store on north side planned". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. February 14, 1954. pp. 3A. Retrieved January 9, 2019. Plans for an immediate start on construction of a North Side store for Famous-Barr Co. were announced yesterday by Morton D. May, president of May Department Stores Co. and general manager of Famous-Barr. It is the first unit to be built in the Northland Shopping Center, a $12,00,000 project planned for a 62-acre tract at Lucas and Hunt road and West Florissant avenue, Jennings, with parking space for 5000 automobiles. Opening of the Famous-Barr store is scheduled for the early autumn of 1955, May said.
  2. "Northland gets jeweler, beauty shop, cleaners". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 10, 1954. pp. 4F. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  3. "Famous-Barr shows its new Northland". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. August 18, 1955. pp. 3A. Retrieved January 9, 2019. Executives of St. Louis department stores and public officials toured the eight acres of Famous-Barr Co.'s new Northland branch store last night in a preview showing of the modern structure at Lucas-Hunt road and West Florissant avenue, Jennings. The store, its three upper levels faced with red brick, is the center of a $12,000,000 shopping center, which will serve the rapidly-growing population of north St. Louis county. Shelves and display cases on all floors, including the basement of the store, were filled with merchandise in readiness for the store's opening at noon tomorrow.
  4. "Satellite stores at Northland". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. August 21, 1955. pp. 1F. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  5. "Kresge to open ninth unit in St. Louis area". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. August 28, 1955. pp. 1E. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  6. "Northland project was '50s pioneer". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. August 11, 1977. pp. 4NW. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  7. "Northland Center". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. August 11, 1977. pp. 2NW. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  8. "Kmart agrees to sell Kresge stores". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. April 4, 1987. pp. 13A. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  9. "Texas Discounter Buys Northland". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. July 9, 1992. p. 1B – via Newspapers.com. A retail redeveloper from Texas has bought Northland Shopping Center in Jennings with plans to convert the property into a discount center. The buyer, Spigel Properties of San Antonio, closed the deal late Wednesday with CenterMark Properties of St. Louis. Terms were not disclosed... Separately, Spigel has an option to buy the Famous-Barr store at Northland from its owner, May Department Stores Co. of St. Louis. Spigel Properties President Stanley Spigel said he will exercise that option. But Jim Abrams, a spokesman for May Co., added Wednesday that the Famous at Northland will remain open until October 1993, when a new Famous is set to open at Jamestown Mall in far north St. Louis County.
  10. "Visitors deplore store's condition". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. January 25, 1994. pp. 5SC. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  11. "Famous at Northland fades away with -- what else? -- a final sale". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. June 12, 1994. pp. 1D, 7D. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  12. "Jennings moves closer to Northland development". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. June 8, 2000. p. 125 – via Newspapers.com. Jennings and the Sansone Group have moved closer to the redevelopment of Northland Shopping Center with a Target Greatland as anchor. The two sides met in closed session last Friday afternoon on Sansone's request for a $6 million tax-increment-financing agreement to secure Target's commitment Jim Sansone, executive vice president of the Sansone Group, said that amount was needed to justify the financial risk Target would take to anchor a 200,000-square-foot center with three new buildings and a separate office building for a state agency... The Sansone Group is still negotiating with the owners of Northland, Spiegel Properties and May Department Stores Co., to buy the 52-acre tract at West Florissant Avenue and Lucas and Hunt Road.
  13. "Changes at Northland center put the squeeze on Family Dollar". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. April 1, 2001. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. Weiss, Toby (June 16, 2005). "Northland Shopping Center". B.E.L.T. - St. Louis.
  15. "Target opens in former Northland Shopping Center". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 12, 2006. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  16. Bryant, Tim (May 12, 2015). "Sansone sells Buzz Westfall Plaza". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  17. Brown, Lisa (May 24, 2016). "Target closing Jennings store". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
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