Emporium Centre San Francisco is a shopping mall located in SF. It is anchored by Bloomingdale's. It connects directly to the Powell Street station via an underground entrance on the concourse floor.
Early years
Originally developed by Sheldon Gordon (co-developer of The Forum Shops at Caesars and Beverly Center), the nine-story mall opened in October 1988 as San Francisco Shopping Centre with approximately 500,000 square feet (46,000 m2) of space, the then-largest Nordstrom store (350,000 square feet (33,000 m2)) on the top several floors, the first spiral escalator in the United States, and a connector to the adjoining Emporium-Capwell flagship store.
After a slow start, it soon became one of the top-performing shopping centers in the country. In 1996, the adjoining Emporium was shuttered in the wake of Federated Department Stores' buyout of its parent, Broadway Stores. The vacated store was temporarily used as a Macy's furniture store while it renovated its Union Square flagship in 1997. In May 1997, Urban Shopping Centers, Inc., a real estate investment trust, acquired a half-interest and management of the center. This was followed by Urban's own buyout by Rodamco North America N.V. (a European property firm primarily invested in the US) in Oct 2000 & Rodamco's subsequent sale to a consortium including the Westfield Group in Jan 2002. Westfield acquired its initial 50% stake in the center at this time and soon bought the rest.
Expansion
In Feb 2003, Forest City, which had acquired redevelopment rights to the long-vacant Emporium store from Federated, reached an agreement with Westfield to jointly redevelop the 2 properties.
The newly expanded mixed-use Westfield SF Centre opened on Sept 28, 2006. Designed by the Kohn Pedersen Fox architectural firm, with Kevin Kennon as the Design Principal, the mall included Bloomingdale's West Coast flagship store, a nine-screen Century Theatres multiplex theater featuring 2 XD screens, a 30,000 sqf (2,800 m2) Bristol Farms gourmet supermarket, and the Downtown Campus for SF State University in its 1.5 million+ ft² of space.
The redevelopment cost $440 million. Only the front façade and landmark dome of the original structure were preserved; the rest of the structure was completely gutted and replaced. Upon completion of the project, Forest City became an equity partner and along with Westfield assumed responsibility for day-to-day management. In March 2009, it was announced that Westfield SF Centre shopping center was named as one of nine finalists vying for the title of “World’s Best Shopping Center” as part of the International Council of Shopping Centers Inc.’s inaugural “Best-of-the-Best” awards. Westfield SF Centre ended up winning the "Best-of-the-Best" award for design and development; it was one of only four shopping centers in the world to win.
In 2011, the SFPD considered putting a substation in the mall to prevent rampant shoplifting. The Bristol Farms store closed on 1/27/17. In the summer of 2021, a Shake Shack opened in the former Bristol Farms space.
Decline
In June 2023, Westfield and Brookfield announced that, due to plunging post-pandemic sales, occupancy and foot traffic at the mall, they would stop making loan payments and cede the property to their lenders. The Century Theatres multiplex closed on 6/15/23. In July 2023, the Westfield branding was removed from the mall, which was renamed San Francisco Centre. Nordstrom closed on 8/27/23, leaving Bloomingdale's as the only anchor store, at which point the mall's occupancy level had fallen to 55%. Mayor London Breed suggested that the mall could be redeveloped for another use, such as a soccer stadium, while others suggested it be used as food halls, pickleball courts & animal shelters.
In Sept. 2023, the owners of the American Eagle store filed a lawsuit claiming mall management had failed to "maintain the Common Areas at the mall which has poisoned public opinion" about safety.
In Oct 2023, Gregg Williams, the principal receiver of Trident Pacific was appointed by a judge to take possession, custody, and control of the mall.
On 11/30/23, the LEGO Store closed permanently. The 2-story Adidas store closed permanently on 1/13/24. The Hollister store closed permanently on January 8, 2024. Aldo closed permanently on 1/21/24. Madewell and sister chain J. Crew both closed permanently on 1/22/24. The mall's Lucky Brand store closed on Jan. 29, 2024. By that point, the mall's occupancy level was only 25%, and its valuation had plunged 75% from its 2016 level of $1.2 billion to only $290 million.
On 2/29/24, San Francisco Centre was renamed Emporium Centre San Francisco. Accompanying it was a brand-new logo and look created by an Atlanta-based, women-run agency called House of Current.
In March 2024, it was announced that L'Occitane had closed and that Sephora would close too, as a result of decline. In May 2024, American Eagle and Ted Baker announced that they would also be closing their stores.
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