Washington Square is a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

in the city of Tigard,

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, United States. Located in the

Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metro area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered on the principal city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) identifies it as the Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, ...

along

Oregon Route 217 Oregon Route 217 is an Oregon state highway which serves the western suburbs of Portland. OR 217 is a controlled-access highway which connects U.S. Route 26 with Interstate 5. OR 217 consists of the Beaverton-Tigard Highway 144 (see Oregon h ...

, the shopping complex is one of the top grossing malls per square foot in the United States, with sales of $716/ft². Opened in 1973, the mall is currently managed and co-owned by

The Macerich Company Macerich ( ) is a real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers. It is the third-largest owner and operator of shopping centers in the United States. As of December 31, 2020, the company owned interests in 52 properties compris ...

, a

real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...

, and is anchored by

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and ...

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

, and Dick's Sporting Goods.

History

On May 3, 1972, plans for Oregon's largest shopping mall at that time were announced by Winmar Pacific, Inc.,"Shopping center contributes to fast-growing phenomenon". ''

Hillsboro Argus ''The Hillsboro Argus'' was a twice-weekly newspaper in the city of Hillsboro, Oregon, from 1894 to 2017, known as the ''Washington County Argus'' for its final year. The ''Argus'' was distributed in Washington County, Oregon, United States. First ...

'', October 19, 1976. a developer bought by

Safeco Safeco Insurance, a member of Liberty Mutual Group, is an American insurance company. It held the naming rights to the Seattle Mariners' baseball stadium Safeco Field from its opening in 1999 through the end of the 2018 season. History Safeco ...

in 1967. It was to be a development with space for 100 stores. The mall was to include over on in an L-shaped pattern. On August 16, 1973,

Meier & Frank Meier & Frank was a prominent chain of department stores founded in Portland, Oregon, and later bought by The May Department Stores Company. Meier & Frank operated in the Pacific Northwest from 1857 to 2006. History Summary Meier & Frank was f ...

became the first tenant to open at the mall.

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

and Lipman's then opened that November, followed by Liberty House and

during the summer of 1974. The grand opening of the facility began on February 21, 1974. It is located southwest of

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

in an area known as

Progress Progress is the movement towards a refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. In the context of progressivism, it refers to the proposition that advancements in technology, science, and social organization have resulted, and by extension wi ...

, which at the time was entirely unincorporated and located between the cities of Beaverton and Tigard. Frederick & Nelson at Washington Square, 1988

Frederick & Nelson at Washington Square, 1988

In April 1978, the Liberty House store, located on the mall's north side, was taken over by

Frederick & Nelson Frederick & Nelson was a department store chain in the northwestern United States, based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891 as a furniture store, it later expanded to sell other types of merchandise. The company was acquired by Marshall Fiel ...

(F&N). The following year, Frederick & Nelson acquired the entire Lipman's chain, and in connection with that acquisition, F&N moved within the mall from the space it had occupied for only one year to the much larger ex-Lipman's space, on the mall's west side. Mervyn's took over the space vacated by F&N and originally occupied by Liberty House, opening its store in October 1979. In 1986, the cities of Beaverton, Tigard, and Portland fought to annex the unincorporated territory on which the mall was located. Tigard was awarded the right to annex Washington Square along with other adjacent properties that contain

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

and the

Embassy Suites Hotel Embassy Suites by Hilton is a chain of upper upscale all-suite hotels trademarked by Hilton Worldwide. As of December 31, 2019, there are 257 locations in five countries and territories with 59,712 rooms. Similar to other Hilton brands, 212 E ...

. Following Frederick & Nelson's bankruptcy and store closure in January 1991, Nordstrom acquired the vacant space and demolished it, constructing a larger replacement for its existing store; this new Nordstrom opened in 1994. At that time, the former Nordstrom space was acquired by the mall and reconfigured as a

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dinner. I ...

and additional retail space, coinciding with the renovation of the mall. By the mid-1990s the mall had an average sales per square foot that placed it in the top 10% of malls nationwide. Washington Square mall - northwest corner 2015

Washington Square mall - northwest corner 2015

In December 1998, the mall was sold by

, a

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

-headquartered insurance company, to a partnership of

and

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (french: Régime de retraite des enseignantes et des enseignants de l'Ontario) is an independent organization responsible for administering defined-benefit pensions for school teachers of the Canadian pr ...

(OTPP); at the time of the sale Washington Square was "one of the most productive malls on the West Coast", with sales approaching $500 per square foot. Macerich, a

Real Estate Investment Trust A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...

, took over management of the property. In 2005, Macerich opened a addition, housing 30 more stores (including

The Cheesecake Factory The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated is an American restaurant company and distributor of cheesecakes based in the United States. The company operates 219 full-service restaurants: 206 under The Cheesecake Factory brand and 13 under the Grand Lux ...

Sephora Sephora is a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products. Featuring nearly 340 brands, along with its own private label, Sephora Collection, Sephora offers beauty products including cosmetics, skincare, body, fragrance, n ...

Godiva Chocolatier Godiva Chocolatier (; ) is a Belgian-based international chocolate maker which is owned by Turkish conglomerate Yıldız Holding Founded in 1926, it was purchased by Turkish Yıldız Holding in November 2007. In 2019, South Korean private equity ...

, and

Williams Sonoma Williams Sonoma is an American retailer of cookware, appliances, and home furnishings. It is owned by Williams-Sonoma, Inc. and was founded by Charles E. (Chuck) Williams in 1956. History In 1947, Chuck Williams settled in Sonoma, Californ ...

). At the same time, other improvements were made throughout the mall and two new parking structures were added. Mervyn's closed in November 2005 and their location, which they owned, was sold to the mall. The site was refurbished and reopened as Dick's Sporting Goods in March 2008. Sears at Washington Square mall in Oregon (2015)

Sears at Washington Square mall in Oregon (2015)

In February 2011, Swedish clothing retailer H&M opened their doors at Washington Square. It is the company's second location in Oregon. In 2015,

Sears Holdings Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th-l ...

spun off 235 properties, including the Sears at Washington Square, into Seritage Growth Properties. On October 15, 2018, original anchor store Sears announced that their location at Washington Square would be closing as part of the chain's bankruptcy filing.

Layout

The current configuration has five department store anchors, 210 specialty shops & restaurants, and a food court. Some of the stores are located in an adjacent outdoor plaza known as "Square Too". Most of the mall is on a single level; however, the anchor stores have multiple levels, the food court is on a second level, and the expansion in 2005 was built so that it could accommodate a second-level addition at a later date. Discussions were made in 2021 to convert some of it into housing.

TriMet TriMet, formally known as the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon, is a public agency that operates mass transit in a region that spans most of the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Created in 1969 ...

maintains the

Washington Square Transit Center The Washington Square Transit Center is a TriMet transit center located at the Washington Square shopping center in Tigard, Oregon, in the mall's parking lot north of J. C. Penney. The following bus routes serve the transit center: * 45 – Ga ...

on the mall's premises.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1973 establishments in Oregon Macerich Shopping malls established in 1973 Shopping malls in Washington County, Oregon Tigard, Oregon Tourist attractions in Washington County, Oregon

History

Layout

See also

References

External links