Madison Square Mall
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| Location | Huntsville, Alabama |
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| Coordinates | 34°44′15″N 86°39′58″W / 34.7376°N 86.6662°WCoordinates: 34°44′15″N 86°39′58″W / 34.7376°N 86.6662°W |
| Address | 5901 University Drive |
| Opening date | October 16, 1984 |
| Owner | The Grove Huntsville LLC |
| No. of stores and services | 120[1] |
| No. of anchor tenants | 2 |
| Total retail floor area | 929,993 sq ft (86,399.2 m2)[1] |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Website | madisonsquaremall.com |
Madison Square Mall is the largest enclosed shopping center in Huntsville, Alabama encompassing over 929,993 sq ft (86,399.2 m2). It is also the oldest extant enclosed shopping mall in the city. Anchored by JCPenney and Sears, the mall is located on the corner of University Drive (US 72) and Research Park Boulevard (SR-255). All entrances to the mall are now locked and Sears and JCPenney remain the only tenants.
History
Madison Square Mall opened on August 1, 1984, with anchors JCPenney, Parisian,[2] Castner Knott, Pizitz, and a Sears which relocated from Heart of Huntsville Mall. Junior anchors included Yielding and Blach's. Over time, some of the anchors have changed. Blach's was closed by 1987 and replaced by The Limited and Victoria's Secret. Pizitz was acquired by Jackson, Mississippi-based McRae's in 1988 and renamed as such until McRae's was acquired by Charlotte, North Carolina-based Belk. Castner Knott was acquired in 1998 by Dillard's. Yielding closed their Madison Square Mall location around 1993. For the next 10 years the space was used by Castner Knott/Dillard's for their menswear. Until 2008, Steve & Barry's used the space. In 2007, Belk, after purchasing Parisian, moved its store from the former McRae's space to the much larger former Parisian space and renovated it to fit the Belk model. The former McRae's building remains vacant. Belk departed for Bridge Street Town Center in late 2014.
In addition to the in-line mall stores, several other businesses are located in the Madison Square complex, including a Holiday Inn hotel, Romano's Macaroni Grill and Steak 'n Shake restaurants, and a TouchStar Cinemas theater.
Madison Square Mall has been renovated twice since its opening, first in 1994 and again in 2006.
Madison Square Mall was owned by CBL & Associates Properties, Inc.,[3] until it was sold to The Grove Huntsville LLC for $5 million in late April 2015. The property will be redeveloped, despite struggles with the city of Huntsville against property owners Sears, JCPenney, and most notably TouchStar Cinemas, who started a petition on 7 June 2016 to prevent their property from being demolished. Not even 24 hours later, the petition achieved over 1,000 signatures. Huntsville's Director of Urban Development Shane Davis made a statement regarding this move, and confirmed that the theater will not be demolished, and instead the plans would be reworked around the property.[4][5]
Madison Square Mall began liquidation in the summer of 2016. [6]
Sears announced it would be closing in January 2017 and would return to the MidCity Huntsville development that will replace Madison Square Mall. [7]
Anchors
Former
- Blach's (closed 1991)
- Pizitz (sold to McRae's in 1986)
- Yielding (closed 1997)
- Castner Knott (sold to Dillard's in 2002)
- McRae's (sold to Belk in 2005, parcel now vacant)
- Parisian (sold to Belk in 2006)
- Steve & Barry's (30,000 sq ft, closed in 2008, parcel now vacant)
- Dillard's (converted to Dillard's Clearance Center in 2011)
- Belk (115,000 sq ft, closed October 2014, relocated to Bridge Street Town Center)[8]
- Dillard's Clearance Center (131,304 sq ft), closed October 2015)
References
- 1 2 "Madison Square". CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. Retrieved January 19, 2011.
- ↑ Blueweiss, Herbert (August 9, 1984). "Class act retailing at new Parisian". Daily News Record. Fairchild Fashion Media.
- ↑ "Dillard's and Parisian Announced as Anchor Stores for Parkway Place Redevelopment". Business Wire. April 12, 2000.
- ↑ Berry, Lucy (April 29, 2015). "Madison Square Mall in Huntsville sold for $5 million". The Huntsville Times. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
- ↑ Berry, Lucy (June 7, 2016). "City of Huntsville calls off plans to acquire Madison Square movie theater". The Huntsville Times. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
- ↑ http://www.al.com/business/index.ssf/2016/06/post_371.html
- ↑ http://whnt.com/2016/11/18/sears-madison-square-mall-store-to-close-in-january-of-2017-will-relocate-within-huntsville/
- ↑ Berry, Lucy (October 3, 2014). "After Belk closes Saturday, will struggling Madison Square Mall in Huntsville hang on?". The Huntsville Times. Retrieved April 29, 2015.