Opry Mills

Opry Mills is a super-regional shopping mall in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. The mall was owned by the Mills Corporation and Gaylord Entertainment Company until 2007, when the Mills Corporation was acquired by Simon Property Group. It opened on May 12, 2000 on the former site of Opryland Themepark. The mall is adjacent to the Grand Ole Opry House and the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. The anchor stores are Regal Cinemas, Madame Tussauds, Sun & Ski Sports, Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse, Bass Pro Shops, Ralph Lauren, Nike Outlet, H&M, Old Navy, Forever 21, and Dave & Buster's.

Opry Mills
Entrance in 2022
LocationNashville, Tennessee, United States
Coordinates36°12′11″N 86°41′34″W
Opening dateMay 12, 2000[1]
DeveloperMills Corporation
OwnerSimon Property Group
No. of stores and services178
No. of anchor tenants14 (13 open, 1 vacant)
Total retail floor area1,168,641 square feet (108,570 m2)
No. of floors1
Websiteoprymills.com

Description

Opry Mills is a single-level mall that contained over 178 stores, including Lionel Trains, GameStop, LEGO Store, Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, Polo Ralph Lauren Factory Store, Forever 21, Gap Factory Store, H&M, IMAX, Madame Tussauds, Nike Factory Store, Movado Company Store, Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse, Old Navy Outlet Store, Regal Cinemas, and Sun and Ski Sports. There is also a large food court that contains Popeyes, Subway, Panda Express, Chili's, T.G.I. Friday's, Burger King, Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen, Johnny Rockets, The Cheesecake Factory, Rainforest Cafe, Dave & Buster's, Saltgrass Steakhouse, Aquarium Restaurant, Bavarian Bierhaus, Chuy's Mexican Food and Romano's Macaroni Grill restaurants are located inside and outside the food court.

The General Jackson showboat, which operates on the Cumberland River, is docked just outside Opry Mills.

History

The current site of Opry Mills was originally Opryland Themepark, a popular theme park which operated from 1972 to 1997. In November 1997, Gaylord Entertainment announced their partnership with the Mills Corporation to construct the Opry Mills shopping mall on the site of the theme park.[2] Opryland closed in December of that year.[3] The mall opened on May 12, 2000.[4] After struggling with bankruptcy for many years, the Mills Corporation was purchased by Simon Property Group in 2007, taking over operations of Opry Mills.[5]

Opry Mills temporarily closed in May 2010 after the water from the 2010 Tennessee floods reached as high as 10 feet inside the mall. The entire property was remediated. In September 2010, restoration work was halted while litigation over insurance claims played out in court, and many of the mall's retailers sought locations elsewhere in the area, either permanently or until the mall was restored and reopened. The initial reopening date was set for August 2011, but that self-imposed deadline was not met due to the litigation.[6] There was speculation that Simon Malls might not reopen the mall at all, due to the company's decision to stop renovations to the mall during litigation. Simon Malls denied that it had plans to close the mall temporarily.[7]

On April 12, 2011, mall officials announced that a financing deal had been reached to resume reconstruction of Opry Mills, and the mall reopened on March 29, 2012, after two years of repairs,[8] with some of the anchor retailers opening sooner. The property was given a facelift during the remediation, and featured a new logo upon its reopening.

The mall owners had been awarded $200 million in insurance coverage from the flood, but in 2018 the Tennessee Supreme Court let stand a lower court's ruling that stripped $150 million of that coverage, as the mall had been built in a known flood zone.[9]

An entrance for the Opry Mills in 2005 (left) and 2013 (right)

References
  1. Hartmann, Stacey (May 11, 2000). "Mills CEO hypes mall's fun factor". The Tennessean. p. 1E, 3E. Retrieved 2020-09-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. Pinkston, Will (November 5, 1997). "Attention, shoppers: Opry Mills wants you". The Tennessean. Gannett. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
  3. Snyder, Eric (January 19, 2012). "Memory lane: Opryland timeline, gallery". American City Business Journals. Advance Publications. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
  4. "Opry Mills construction and grand opening". The Tennessean. Gannett. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
  5. Pristin, Terry (February 17, 2007). "Simon Property Appears to Have Won Battle for Mall Owner". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  6. Snyder, Eric. "Opry Mills mall won't reopen for at least a year, owner says", "Nashville Business Journal", September 16, 2010
  7. Snyder, Naomi (October 3, 2010). "Dark days drag on at Opry Mills mall". The Tennessean. Archived from the original on 2013-02-03.
  8. "Opry Mills reopens to grand ceremony". WAFF. Huntsville, Alabama. April 23, 2012. Archived from the original on 2014-04-29.
  9. "Court upholds cutting $150 million in Opry Mills flood coverage". The Associated Press. May 22, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
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