Washington Square (Oregon)

Washington Square is a shopping mall in the city of Tigard, Oregon, United States. Located in the Portland metropolitan area along Oregon Route 217, the shopping complex is one of the top grossing malls per square foot in the United States, with sales of $716/ft².[3] Opened in 1973, the mall is currently managed and co-owned by The Macerich Company, a real estate investment trust, and is anchored by Macy's, Nordstrom, JCPenney, Apple Store, and Dick's Sporting Goods.[4]

Washington Square
Exterior of the mall's 2005 addition
LocationTigard, Oregon
45.450618°N 122.7811°W / 45.450618; -122.7811
Opening date1973 (1973)
DeveloperWinmar Pacific, Inc.
ManagementThe Macerich Company
OwnerThe Macerich Company &
OTPP
No. of stores and services210[1]
No. of anchor tenants5 (4 open, 1 vacant)
Total retail floor area1,458,734 sq ft (135,520 m2) (GLA)[1]
No. of floors2 (3 in former Sears, closed 3rd floor mezzanine in H&M)
Parking6,700[2]
Public transit accessWashington Square Transit Center
Websitewww.shopwashingtonsquare.com

History

On May 3, 1972, plans for Oregon's largest shopping mall at that time were announced by Winmar Pacific, Inc.,[5] a developer bought by Safeco in 1967.[6] It was to be a 130-acre (0.53 km2) development with space for 100 stores. The mall was to include over 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m2) on 85 acres (340,000 m2) in an L-shaped pattern. On August 16, 1973, Meier & Frank became the first tenant to open at the mall.[5] Sears and Lipman's then opened that November, followed by Liberty House and Nordstrom during the summer of 1974.[5] The grand opening of the facility began on February 21, 1974.[5] It is located southwest of Portland in an area known as Progress, which at the time was entirely unincorporated and located between the cities of Beaverton and Tigard.

The west side of the mall in 1988, before expansion filled in this area

In April 1978, the Liberty House store, located on the mall's north side, was taken over by Frederick & Nelson (F&N).[7] The following year, Frederick & Nelson acquired the entire Lipman's chain, and in connection with that acquisition, F&N moved within the mall from the space it had occupied for only one year to the much larger ex-Lipman's space,[8] on the mall's west side. Mervyn's took over the space vacated by F&N and originally occupied by Liberty House, opening its 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m2) store in October 1979.[9]

In 1986, the cities of Beaverton, Tigard, and Portland fought to annex the unincorporated territory on which the mall was located.[10] Tigard was awarded the right to annex Washington Square along with other adjacent properties that contain Lincoln Center and the Embassy Suites Hotel.[10] Following Frederick & Nelson's bankruptcy and store closure in January 1991, Nordstrom acquired the vacant space and demolished it, constructing a larger replacement for its existing store; this new Nordstrom opened in 1994. At that time, the former Nordstrom space was acquired by the mall and reconfigured as a food court and additional retail space, coinciding with the renovation of the mall. By the mid-1990s the mall had an average sales per square foot that placed it in the top 10% of malls nationwide.[10]

The mall's northwest corner in 2015. At left is the portion of Macy's, formerly Meier & Frank, that has been in operation since the mall's opening in 1973. At right is the 2005 addition.

In December 1998, the mall was sold by Safeco, a Seattle-headquartered insurance company, to a partnership of The Macerich Company and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP); at the time of the sale Washington Square was "one of the most productive malls on the West Coast", with sales approaching $500 per square foot.[11] Macerich, a Real Estate Investment Trust, took over management of the property.

In 2005, Macerich opened a 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m2) addition, housing 30 more stores (including The Cheesecake Factory, Sephora, Godiva Chocolatier, and Williams Sonoma).[1] At the same time, other improvements were made throughout the mall and two new parking structures were added. Mervyn's closed in November 2005 and their location, which they owned, was sold to the mall. The site was refurbished and reopened as Dick's Sporting Goods in March 2008.

The Sears store opened in 1973, as one of the mall's first tenants.

In February 2011, Swedish clothing retailer H&M opened their doors at Washington Square. It is the company's second location in Oregon.

In 2015, Sears Holdings spun off 235 properties, including the Sears at Washington Square, into Seritage Growth Properties.[12]

On October 15, 2018, original anchor store Sears announced that their location at Washington Square would be closing as part of the chain's bankruptcy filing.[13][14]

Layout

The current configuration has five department store anchors, 210 specialty shops & restaurants, and a food court. Some of the stores are located in an adjacent outdoor plaza known as "Square Too". Most of the mall is on a single level; however, the anchor stores have multiple levels, the food court is on a second level, and the expansion in 2005 was built so that it could accommodate a second-level addition at a later date. Discussions were made in 2021 to convert some of it into housing.[15][16]

TriMet maintains the Washington Square Transit Center on the mall's premises.

See also

References
  1. "Property Overview - Washington Square". The Macerich Company. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
  2. "Countering the crunch". The Oregonian. August 27, 2006.
  3. "2006 Annual report for The Macerich Company". Form 10-K (for fiscal year ended December 31, 2006). SEC. February 16, 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
  4. "Washington Square brings first Dick's Sporting Goods to Oregon" (PDF). Washington Square. February 5, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-08-12. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
  5. "Shopping center contributes to fast-growing phenomenon". Hillsboro Argus, October 19, 1976.
  6. Lane, Polly (February 5, 1998). "Safeco Plans To Sell Off Its Real-Estate Division". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
  7. "Department stores get new name". The Oregonian. April 18, 1978. p. D6.
  8. Brennan, Tom (February 10, 1979). "99-year tradition ending: Frederick & Nelson buys Lipmans". The Oregonian. p. 1.
  9. Shaw, Larry (October 6, 1979). "Mervyn's three openings draw well". The Oregonian. p. C7.
  10. Manning, Jeff (August 11, 1994). "Washington Square still strong, profitable 20 years after debut". The Oregonian. p. R7.
  11. Miller, Brian K. (December 13, 1998). "Safeco Corp. set to sell Washington Square Mall". Portland Business Journal. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  12. "At Washington Square Mall | Seritage".
  13. Wong, Peter (October 16, 2018). "Sears Washington Square, Beaverton Kmart will close by year's end". Portland Tribune. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
  14. "Sears, Kmart stores closing in Washington County". The Oregonian. October 15, 2018. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
  15. "New plan for Washington Square features housing at the mall".
  16. "Washington Square | Map". www.shopwashingtonsquare.com. Retrieved 2023-01-19.
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