PlazAmericas

PlazAmericas, formerly known as Sharpstown Mall and earlier Sharpstown Center, is a shopping mall located in the Sharpstown, Houston, Texas. The mall is located on the northwest corner of Interstate 69/ U.S. Route 59 and Bellaire Boulevard. This is the third mall to be built in Houston after Gulfgate Mall in 1957, but the first fully air-conditioned mall in Houston. The area includes the Jewelry Exchange Center, a ten-story building. After the mall was renamed PlazAmericas, it took a Latin American theme and catered to Hispanics. The anchor stores are Burlington, SuperNova Furniture, America Cinemas, La Sorella, Gold Factory & Imports, and Clarewood Supermercado.

It was built in Sharpstown Industrial Park Section 12.

History

Beginnings and prime years (1961–1990s)

The mall opened as ''Sharpstown Center'', on September 14, 1961, mere days after Hurricane Carla affected Houston, with future United States Senator Ted Kennedy appearing during the opening ceremony as the main speaker.Gonzales, J.R.
Sharpstown Shopping Center: 50 years later
" ''Houston Chronicle''. September 14, 2011. Retrieved on September 14, 2011.Bivins, Ralph.
The fall of a mall / Sharpstown Center seized in foreclosure
" ''Houston Chronicle''. Thursday February 8, 2001. Retrieved on September 14, 2011. A 1970 ''Houston Chronicle'' article stated that Frank Sharp decided not to delay the opening; therefore the morale of Houstonians would be increased. Not surprisingly, the first day of business brought only 8,000 shoppers (a number that was affected by the hurricane).

At the time of its opening, the mall consisted of 43 stores on one level including the first suburban branch of the Houston-based Foley's department store chain, as well as the first suburban locations of Houston Trunk Factory, Battelstein's and Florsheim Shoes. In addition to Foley's, Montgomery Ward also opened as an anchor, along with the Sharpstown State Bank—later shuttered in the wake of the Sharpstown scandal which significantly involved Sharpstown developer Frank Sharp and many members of the Texas Legislature. The former bank building would later become home to the Jewelry Exchange Center, with three "motor bank" drive-throughs in the middle of the front parking lot as the only present-day reminder of the former bank.

Early on, transportation concerns became a threat to the mall's success, and consequently Frank Sharp decided to donate a 300 ft (91 m) wide strip of land to build the Southwest Freeway (Interstate 69/ U.S. Route 59) through his development. Because it was Houston's first air conditioned mall—a luxury given Houston's historically unpredictable weather, many Houston residents residing in the central part of the city wanted to experience the "mall of the future", hence the traffic concerns. Another unique aspect of the mall within its corridors was the Clock of Texas diorama, an animated look at the history of Texas through the centuries. Sharp would also place a time capsule in the cornerstone of the mall.Hegstrom, Edward.
Area's diversity represented
. ''Houston Chronicle''. Section A, Page 22, 3 STAR Edition. December 22, 2003. Retrieved July 24, 2011.

When Sharpstown Center opened, it was located on the edge of Houston's southwest suburbs. As the Houston area grew rapidly over the next three decades, with Houston itself becoming the nation's fourth-largest city, numerous other developments throughout southwest Houston began to emerge. These developments included countless new apartment complexes home to young professionals in Houston's energy industry, residential developments as far south as Missouri City, the construction of Houston Baptist University, Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital, numerous car dealerships, and a new studio complex for the city's NBC television affiliate, KPRC-TV and its sister radio station KPRC-AM. By 1970, Sharpstown Center had 57 stores and was fully leased.

The 1970s also saw the opening of The Galleria