Vallco Shopping Mall (formerly called Cupertino Square and Vallco Fashion Park) is a three-level shopping mall located in Cupertino, California, United States. It is anchored by J.C. Penney, Macy's, and Sears.
Contents
Major stores and activities
The anchors and major businesses in Vallco are:
- JC Penney (closing 2015)
- Macy's (closed March 15, 2015)
- Sears (closed October 2015)
- AMC Theatres
- Bowlmor Lanes
Vallco also hosts Pacific Coast Farmers' Market in the parking lot behind JC Penney.
History
Vallco Park started as a business park in the 1960s, formed from land owned by 25 Cupertino property owners. It was named for the primary developers: Varian Associates, and the Leonard, Lester, Craft, and Orlando families.[1][2]
Origins and expansion
In the early 1970s, the Cupertino City Council held public hearings on the possible locations of a regional shopping center in the city. After it decided the city could only support one center, the Vallco group found itself competing with another group led by orchard owner Paul Mariani, Jr. In 1973, the city council decided it wanted the regional shopping center on the edge of the city and gave the proper zoning to Vallco.[1]
Vallco Fashion Park opened in September 1976. In its first years, the mall's main walkway was punctuated by several parks showcasing aspects of local history, ranging from apricots to Klystron tubes.[3] Vallco was one of the largest shopping centers in Silicon Valley and soon drew customers from all over the region.
One of the early features of the mall was the ice skating rink attached to the shopping center. The Ice Capades Chalet, open for almost ten years, began to encounter trouble in 1986, when proposals to close it and replace it with movie theatres emerged. By June 3, 1988, the rink faced imminent closure, until the Cupertino city council stepped in and kept the rink open when faced with vocal protest. At the time, the ice rink was one of two year-round skating rinks in Santa Clara County.[citation needed]
Increased competition from other regional malls, such as Stanford Shopping Center, and in particular Valley Fair (opened 1986) began to cause Vallco trouble. In July 1988, an $20 million expansion for the mall was announced, which would add a lower level and 50 stores, increasing the total store count from 140 to 190.[4] Ultimately, this expansion was completed in August, 1988, adding a total of 60 stores.[5]
Another large tenant arrived at the mall on the weekend of August 11, 1990, with the addition of the Tilt Family Entertainment Center.[6]
Deterioration and renovation
Occupancy began deteriorating in the 1990s, and the emptying of the mall continued into the mid 2000s. One reason for this decline was that the selection of mid-range stores didn't reflect the affluence of the surrounding populace.
Alan Wong, Emily Chen, and John Nguyen bought Vallco and began renovation of the mostly empty mall in 2005. By 2006, Vallco had the lowest occupancy rate of any mall in the area, at just 24 percent. One of the changes made to Vallco as part of these new renovations was to completely close the first of the mall's two levels in 2005, leaving the focus on the second floor. From there, new tenants were pulled in over the next few years.
In 2006, Cupertino voters prevented re-zoning of part of the Vallco property for condominiums by overturning a re-zoning ordinance that was passed by the city council. The loss of the revenue that was expected from this sale contributed to the financial problems of the owners. The contractor for the movie theater, DPR, filed a mechanic's lien against the owners for approximately US$10 million in July 2007, which was settled the following September when Orbit Resources acquired the mall.
Vallco Fashion Park's name was changed to Cupertino Square in 2007.[7] Later that year, the owners sold three parcels of land to Evershine Property Management and sold a controlling stake of the mall to Orbit Resources,[8] which switched managing agents from Landmark Property Management to Jones Lang LaSalle.[9]
Renovation of the mall that began in 2005 continued. By 2009, two new parking structures, a 16-screen AMC movie theater, a food court, and Strike Bowling (at the former location of Tilt Family Entertainment Center) had been added to the complex. Future plans include shops facing the street at the corner of Wolfe Road and Vallco Parkway and a seismic upgrade of the parking garage west of the theatres as well as the main mall structure, as well as two new hotels.
In September 2008, the two owners of the complex filed for bankruptcy to prevent the primary financier, Gramercy Capital, from foreclosing on their property. According to Gramercy, the assets of the company fell well below the debt owed, though the consortium disputed this.[10]
In September 2009, Vietnamese food processing company Son Son Co. purchased Cupertino Square for US$64 million in an all-cash transaction. The new owners restored the name Vallco Shopping Mall.[11]
In October 2014, Sand Hill Property Co. purchased Macy's, J. C. Penney, and Sears at approximately US$200 million.[12] In November 2014, Sand Hill Property Co. completed purchase of the entire mall for a total of US$320 million, the first time the entire mall including the anchor stores had been under the same ownership.[13][14][15]
In January 2015, JCPenney and Macy's announced plans to close their Cupertino Square Locations[16][17] Sears also announced that its store would close in October 2015.[15]
In August 2015, Sand Hill announced a plan to convert the mall into The Hills at Vallco, a retail, office, and residential development based on a street grid and to be covered with the world's largest green roof, which is to be occupied by a city park. Rafael Viñoly Architects and OLIN Landscape Architects have been selected as chief designers of the project.[15]
References and footnotes
- ^ a b Fuller, David W. "Vallco Park: From Orchards to Industry". In Linda Sharman Schultz (ed.). Cupertino Chronicle (2002 Edition) (2002 ed.). Cupertino Historical Society. pp. 155–165.
- ^ Vallco Business Park still exists and is the home of the Cupertino campus of Hewlett-Packard and a future campus for Apple.
- ^ Cupertino.org: History
- ^ "Paving the Way: Vallco Plans $20 Million Expansion", San Jose Mercury News, 1987-07-02
- ^ "Vallco Strikes Back: Cupertino Mall Opens Big Addition", San Jose Mercury News, 1988-08-26
- ^ "For the Vid in All of Us: Video Games, Bumper Cars, Pinball — The Tilt Arcade is Something Like a Kid's Idea of Heaven", San Jose Mercury News, 1990-08-14
- ^ Kraatz, Cody (2007-02-14), "Vallco gets new name to go with its new look, shop", Cupertino Courier
- ^ Lu, Crystal (2007-10-03), "Cupertino Square and 3 parcels are bought by local investors", Cupertino Courier
- ^ Jones Lang LaSalle press release, Jones Lang LaSalle Named Leasing and Managing Agent for Cupertino Square, (2007-10-09)
- ^ Simonson, Sharon (2008-09-04). "Cupertino Square owners file for bankruptcy". San Jose Business Journal (San Jose News). Retrieved 2008-09-21.
- ^ Conrad, Katherine (2009-10-16). "Cupertino Square deal brings new owners, returns to old name". San Jose Business Journal. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- ^ "Developer buys anchor stores at Cupertino's Vallco mall; J.C. Penney and Sears to close", Silicon Valley Business Journal, 2014-10-28
- ^ "EXCLUSIVE: Sand Hill Property Completes Purchase of Entire Vallco Mall for Total of $320MM", THEREGISTRY, 2014-11-12
- ^ "Vallco finally under single ownership — Pau's Sand Hill lands last piece of mall puzzle", Silicon Valley Business Journal, 2014-11-12
- ^ a b c Wilson, Matt (2015-08-26). "Cupertino: Largest green roof in the world proposed for new Vallco Mall project in Cupertino". San Jose Mercury News.
- ^ Strauss, Gary (2015-01-08). "J.C. Penney, Macy's to shut stores, lay off scores". USA Today.
- ^ Macy's, Inc. (2015-01-08). "Press release: Macy’s, Inc. Evolves with Changing Customer Landscape, Invests for Continued Sales Growth".
External links
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Coordinates: 37°19′35″N 122°00′52″W / 37.326255°N 122.014398°W