Plaza Rio Hondo

Plaza Rio Hondo is a shopping mall in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. It opened in 1982 and is anchored by Marshalls Megastore, Caribbean Cinemas, TJ Maxx, and Best Buy, with one vacant anchor spot last occupied by a Kmart.

History

The 350,000-square-foot Plaza Río Hondo at the time was first owned and developed by the firm Wilder-Manley Associates, and represented an investment of $25 million dollars. The mall was also managed by the firm Wilder-Manley of Puerto Rico, Inc., a subsidiary of WMA.

The first group of stores at the mall first opened on March 31st, 1982. The second few group of stores opened at the end of July of that year. This included Barker’s, Woolworth, La Giralda, and many more.

During July 1982, Barker’s one of the stores anchoring the mall inaugurated being the chains 16th store on the island.

In November 1982, the mall had inauguration events including things such as fashion shows, exhibitions, and music. These events took place starting on the 5th of that month and ending in December of that year. The mall opened with 70 stores of which included Barker’s, Woolworth, Pueblo Supermarket, Walgreens, Kinney Shoes, Gordon’s, Marianne, La Favorita, Centro Disco, Thom McAn, Hallmark, Almacenes Rodríguez, Flagg Shoes, Madison, Preciosa, Butler Shoes, Lerner's, Almacenes Karlo, Radio Shack, Baker Shoes, Zales, Rahola, Tiffany Bakery, Land of Oz, Lee Borinquen, Taco Paco, Burger King, Golden Skillet, Almacenes González, La Giralda, and many more. It also featured on opening free parking for over 2,000 cars.

On March 26th, 1985, a Ponderosa Steakhouse opened at the mall.

On July 3rd, 1986, the Rio Hondo Cinemas a 6-screen cinema opened owned by the Caribbean Cinemas chain. It opened with premieres such as Stallone Cobra, The Karate Kid Part II, Off Beat, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, and Psycho III.

In 1997, the Woolworth’s store at the mall closed after the chain went under that year.

In late 1998, Management Yebba Realty Ventures at the time purchased the lease from F.W. Woolworth Company of their 36,680 square foot store at the mall for $800,000 with the intention of expanding the premises to accommodate the addition of two new junior anchor stores Marshalls and Tiendas Capri.

In April of 1998, Management at the time Yebba Realty Ventures believed that Plaza Río Hondo required additional food services within the mall. Shortly after the acquisition a long-time tenant, with considerable lease term remaining and a store occupying some 20,000 square feet at the center of the mall began to experience financial difficulties, management immediately entered into negotiations to purchase the lease, which they were able to do for $600,000. A 12-unit food court plus 2 outside facing retail bays were complete at a total cost of approximately $3,645,000. The first year net income generated from the food court was approximately $ 1,112,280. The total cost of the lease buy-out and food court construction was approximately $4,245,000 thereby equating to a yield on investment of 26.2%. Again applying a 10% cap rate to the net operating income stream, Management created additional net value of $6,877,800. Beyond that, the food court increased the business at the mall.

In 2001 Yebba Realty Ventures sold the mall to Caribbean Property Group (CPG) for a purchase price of $16,683,080 million dollars.

In 2004, Marshalls moved from its existing store at the mall to a Megastore at the other end. The original Marshalls became a flagship store for CompUSA, which closed in 2008 and became a Best Buy.

In 2005 the mall was acquired by DDR Corp. from a $1.15 billion dollar portfolio deal with Caribbean Property Group (CPG) which included the mall.

TJ Maxx replaced Tiendas Capri former space in 2011.

Ownership partnered with textiles retailer Anna's Linens to open stores at Rio Hondo and other malls in Puerto Rico in 2012.

In 2014, DDR Corp. announced a full remodel of the mall.

In 2017 DDR Corp. spun off its Puerto Rican shopping centers to RVI ( Retail Value Inc.) due to struggles they had after the Hurricane Maria, making Retail Value Inc. the new owner of the mall at the time.

On November 6, 2019, it was announced that Kmart would be closing in February 2020.

In August 2021 Developers Diversified ( DDR Corp.) came back to the PR retail landscape with a $550 million dollar deal with RVI which Plaza Rio Hondo was included in, making DDR the owner of the mall once again.

References

{{Shopping malls in Puerto Rico

Shopping malls in Puerto Rico
Buildings and structures in Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Shopping malls established in 1982
1982 establishments in Puerto Rico