Торговый центр Hilltop: История и трансформация

Shopping mall in Richmond, California
Hilltop Mall opened in September 1976. The mall was developed by A. Alfred Taubman, who also developed several other shopping malls in the East and South Bay Area, including Eastridge Center in San Jose, Stoneridge Shopping Center in Pleasanton, and Sunvalley Mall in Concord. Originally, it was anchored by red tiled Capwell's, JCPenney and Macy's. Capwell's changed its name to Emporium Capwell in 1979, before becoming simply The Emporium in 1990. Sears was added in 1990 in a newly built north wing addition, which was an expansion of this property. Once opened, the mall attracted the major anchor stores from Richmond's downtown, with several major national chain stores closing downtown locations, although many acknowledge that the trend predated Hilltop due to economic and safety issues. The Hilltop Mall Cinemas, operated by Plitt Theatres, opened in the mall on August 25, 1976, showing first run films on a four screen multiplex; four more screens were added upstairs in 1988 after being taken over by Cineplex Odeon. The Hilltop 8 closed in the mid 1990s after shifting to a second run, discount film model, and the space is now part of the 24 Hour Fitness. The Century 16 Hilltop was opened in 2001, in the Hilltop Plaza power center east of the mall.

The mall remained largely unchanged until 1996, when the Emporium store closed following its merger with Federated, who owned Macy's. The store remained vacant until October 1998, when Macy's refurbished and relocated their existing store into the former Emporium space and closed the original Macy's store. The former Macy's space would remain vacant until Walmart took over the space in Spring 2007.

The GM Pension Trust assumed full ownership of Hilltop Mall in 1998, retaining Taubman Centers as manager. In 2004, the GM Pension Trust sold a half interest in a portfolio of shopping centers, including Hilltop, to The Mills Corporation, which also assumed management of the center. After several years of delay, Walmart opened on April 11, 2007 on the site Macy's vacated in 1998.

In July 2007, Simon Property Group purchased the entire Mills Corporation portfolio, including other Bay Area properties: Stoneridge Shopping Center in Pleasanton, California and Great Mall in Milpitas, California. On December 23, 2011, a shopping frenzy over retro Air Jordan shoes resulted in temporary closure of the mall after shots were fired. The mall later reopened, but sales of the shoe were banned for the day. The store closed on July 31, 2017. Also in July 2017, LBG Real Estate Companies, LLC and Aviva Investors announced the purchase of the Hilltop Mall property. The property went into foreclosure by Simon Property Group in 2012 and then proceeded to be put up for auction before it was bought by LBG and Aviva. LBG had begun the process of rebranding, redeveloping and upgrading both the interior and exterior of the mall structural buildings. Working with urban planners, LBG developed a strategy to transform the property during 2020 and beyond. In September 2017, the shopping center rebranded as The Shops at Hilltop, representing a new vision to modernize the property. The renovated shopping center, as designed by Onyx Creative, would have contained new dining, entertainment, office, and retail tenants. After redevelopment, The Shops at Hilltop would have hosted 99 Ranch Market as a new anchor tenant and a variety of dining options representing many different cuisines. There were also plans for personal care services and several entertainment options including a live theater as well as a mix of creative office tenants to the center connecting the shopping, dining, and cultural experiences to the workplace. In addition to the Shops, LBG had created a master plan for the long term, mixed use redevelopment of the fully entitled 77 acre site which would have complemented the existing shopping center. This larger mixed use development, named Hilltop by the Bay, referred to all the development occurring on the old Hilltop Mall Property. Hilltop by the Bay would have had more than 3,500 housing units, as well as office, hotel, and entertainment uses. Beyond the existing building, the Hilltop by the Bay development would have built up the area to create a suburban village on the Hilltop property. The site was entitled for 16.7 million square feet of overall building area, including up to 9,670 housing units. This would have allowed for expansion and development with a variety of uses including a Marriott Residence Inn. The mixed use offered by the Hilltop by the Bay development would have enabled a "work, live, play" environment for those who utilized the full breadth of retail spaces that were intended to be offered once the development was completed. LBG stated in July 2018 the 99 Ranch Market was scheduled to open in late 2019, but the project was never completed. LBG failed to improve the site as promised and the COVID 19 pandemic in the San Francisco Bay Area caused retail occupancy to plummet from 50% to 16%. LBG subsequently announced plans to rename the location as "The East Bay Science and Technology Center". 99 Ranch decided to withdraw from the project and other planned tenants followed suit.

On February 6, 2020, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of the chain's plan to close dozens of stores nationwide. The store closed in April 2020. The mall closed almost all stores during the COVID 19 pandemic starting in mid March 2020, with the exception of Walmart.

On January 5, 2021, it was announced the Macy's at Hilltop would be closing in April 2021 as part of a plan to close 46 stores nationwide. After Macy's closed in March 2021, Walmart became the only traditional anchor store left. In February 2021, Richmond mayor Tom Butt announced that logistics company Prologis was buying most of the land with the intention to build a logistics center along with other developments, including housing. In April 2021, Prologis completed the acquisition of the site for $117 million; they announced plans to demolish the mall and reuse the site: "The purchase of the 78 acre site marks the beginning of Prologis' efforts to pursue a mixed use development that includes residential and retail as well as the modern logistics facilities that are the company's specialty." Walmart was scheduled to depart the site by March 30. The mall building is surrounded by an oval perimeter road and parking lots between the building and perimeter road. At the center of the mall, where the north south and east west hallways intersect, the Rotunda included a carousel, seating, and fountain on the ground level, and a spiral ramp surrounding the fountain rose to the second level. Solar Cantata, a sculpture created by Charles O. Perry in 1971 using gold anodized aluminum, is installed above the fountain and can be viewed from the spiral ramp. The Rotunda also was used for holiday events.

Oakland Tribune (Richmond area edition), Sept. 3, 1976, page 13