PHOENIX — Developers and city leaders met up at the Metrocenter on Thursday and got a little nostalgic, while looking to the future of the mall.
In its heyday, the Metrocenter was the place to see and be seen.
After it opened in 1973, its then-futuristic architecture, the skating rink and multiple department stores made it a destination for the West.
At one time, it was the biggest mall in the country.
Ask any long-time Valley resident, they’ll have a Metrocenter memory or two.
“I’m going to totally date myself, but I was a Farrell’s Ice Cream waitress here,” said Phoenix Economic Development Director Christine Mackay.
When Mayor Kate Gallego was 11 years old, playing softball nearby, she credits the mall for the quick shopping trip that led to her “greatest athletic achievement.”
“Like many eleven year olds, I wasn’t incredibly organized and I lost one of my cleats,” she said.
Then Gallego came to the Metrocenter to buy a new pair. Later that day…
”I hit my only home run for my very long softball career with my lucky Metrocenter shoes,” she said.
Now walking around the mall after it closed in June of 2020, partially due to the pandemic but mostly from societal shopping changes, city leaders and developers got a chance to step back in time before demolition begins.
In the late 1980's, part of ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ was shot in the food court.
The Metrocenter has a few plans for an excellent adventure of their own, just not as chaotic as that scene from the movie.
In the fall of 2022, the Phoenix Council approved an $850-million revitalization project to make Metrocenter a “walkable urban village.”
The upgrades will be complete with commercial, retail and restaurant space, and the Metro light rail’s last stop is scheduled to open in the area in 2024.
And the Metrocenter will be home to thousands of multi-family units for a growing north Phoenix community.
”It’s not affordable housing, but attainably priced housing. Reasonably priced housing for those who have good jobs but not necessarily those high-end jobs,” said Steve Betts advisor to developer and owner Concord Wilshire Capital.
Other developers include TLG Investment Partners in partnership with CDS International Holdings Inc. in affiliation with Hines.
The demolition permit goes into effect in early May according to Betts. Construction will start sometime in the spring of next year.
There is one chance to say goodbye in a “very excellent” way.
On May 21st, a screening of ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ will be hosted at Metrocenter, one last time.
