Vallco Shopping Mall
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Vallco Shopping Mall (formerly called Cupertino Square and originally Vallco Fashion Park) was a now demolished dead mall located in
Cupertino, California Cupertino ( ) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 57,82 ...
, United States. Originally built as a single-story shopping mall in 1976 with a lower level added in 1988 and a third-level movie theater added in 2007, it was anchored for most of its existence 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 ...
,
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 J.C. Penney. , the mall was owned by Sand Hill Property Company and was almost entirely vacant, with Cupertino Ice Center (formerly the Ice Capades Chalet),
Bowlmor Lanes Bowlmor Lanes is the upscale brand of ten-pin bowling and entertainment centers operated by Bowlero Corporation. There are currently 18 Bowlmor Lanes centers, nine of which are former AMF 300 centers and three are former AMF Bowling Centers. Bow ...
, Benihana, and Fremont Union High School (FUHSD) Adult & Community Education as the only remaining tenants, all in the section to the east of Wolfe Road. The larger western portion of the main mall structure was demolished in August 2019 and the pedestrian overpass was demolished in March 2020. The rest has been demolished since then. Plans for the site include a mixed-use development consisting of office space, housing, and retail. A plan by Sand Hill to rebuild Vallco as a mixed-use development with retail, housing, and office space topped by a
green roof A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage ...
park was cancelled after Cupertino voters rejected Measure D on the November 2016 ballot. After obtaining community input in the planning phase, the project ran into significant push-back from citizens who wanted to freeze the site as retail-only, citing concerns about traffic and schools. In 2018, Sand Hill proposed a revised development plan under the auspices of SB 35, which has been approved by Cupertino, containing 2,402 apartments, 1.8 million square feet of office space, and 400,000 square feet of retail. Of the apartments, half of them will be affordable with no government subsidies, which would quintuple Cupertino's affordable housing stock.


Major stores and activities

Vallco was formerly anchored by the following department stores: *
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 ...
(originally
Bullock's Bullock's was a chain of full-line department stores from 1907 through 1995, headquartered in Los Angeles, growing to operate across California, Arizona and Nevada. Bullock's also operated as many as seven more upscale Bullocks Wilshire specialty ...
, then Emporium and later
Emporium-Capwell The Emporium, from 1980 to 1995 Emporium-Capwell, was a mid-line department store chain headquartered in San Francisco, California, which operated for 100 years—from 1896 to 1996. The flagship location on San Francisco's Market Street was a de ...
) (closed March 15, 2015) *
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 ...
(closed October 4, 2015) * J. C. Penney (closed April 8, 2016) *
I. Magnin I. Magnin & Company was a San Francisco, California-based high fashion and specialty goods luxury department store. Over the course of its existence, it expanded across the West into Southern California and the adjoining states of Arizona, Oregon, ...
(closed 1992,"I. Magnin - Vallco", ''Flickr''
/ref> later became Express and finally Dynasty Seafood Restaurant on its lower level)
AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fou ...
also left the mall on March 22, 2018. Currently, the primary attractions are
Bowlmor Lanes Bowlmor Lanes is the upscale brand of ten-pin bowling and entertainment centers operated by Bowlero Corporation. There are currently 18 Bowlmor Lanes centers, nine of which are former AMF 300 centers and three are former AMF Bowling Centers. Bow ...
and Cupertino Ice Center. Benihana remains active at the mall in its original location, and the
Fremont Union High School District Fremont Union High School District (abbreviated FUHSD) is a school district in Silicon Valley, California. It serves the communities of Cupertino, Sunnyvale, San Jose, Los Altos, Saratoga, and Santa Clara. History Founded in 1923 as the West ...
operates an
adult school An adult high school or adult school is a high school facility designed for adult education. It is intended for adults who have not completed high school to continue their education. Some adult high schools offer child care, special integration pro ...
in the mall's former food court. All of the current occupants have exterior entrances; the interior hallways of the mall have been closed to public access since late 2018. Vallco also formerly hosted the Pacific Coast Farmers' Market in the parking lot behind J. C. Penney. The market's last day at Vallco was December 30, 2016, after which it relocated to nearby Creekside Park.


History


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. Vallco Fashion Park held its grand opening at 6:00pm on September 1, 1976. In its first several years, the mall's main walkway was punctuated by several parks showcasing aspects of local history, ranging from
apricots An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus '' Prunus''. Usually, an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are al ...
to
Klystron A klystron is a specialized linear-beam vacuum tube, invented in 1937 by American electrical engineers Russell and Sigurd Varian,Pond, Norman H. "The Tube Guys". Russ Cochran, 2008 p.31-40 which is used as an amplifier for high radio frequen ...
tubes. Vallco was one of the largest shopping centers in
Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...
and soon drew customers from all over the region. One of the early features of the mall was the
ice skating rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...
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 (not to be confused with the more recent AMC Theatres, which was instead built on a new third level over the central portion of the mall). 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 nearby – the other being the Ice Capades Chalet at San Mateo Fashion Island. It was also the first place that sold
San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are owned by San Jose Sports & Entertainm ...
merchandise, before the SAP Center (formerly called the San Jose Arena and the HP Pavilion) was built. Beginning in 1986, increased competition from other regional malls such as
Stanford Shopping Center Stanford Shopping Center is an upscale open air shopping mall located on Route 82 ( El Camino Real) at Sand Hill Road in Palo Alto, California. It is on the campus of Stanford University although the university only owns the land and not the ac ...
and in particular Valley Fair (renovated into an indoor shopping mall that year) began to cause Vallco trouble. Foot traffic began to rapidly decline, and tenants began to move to these competing malls. In July 1988, an $20 million expansion for Vallco was announced, which added a lower level and 50 stores, increasing the total store count from 140 to 190. Ultimately, this expansion was completed in August 1988, adding a total of 60 stores. On the weekend of August 11, 1990, Tilt Family Entertainment Center opened on the lower level (where the original food court used to be).


Deterioration and renovation

Occupancy began to decline in the 1990s, and the emptying of the mall continued until 2019. One reason for this decline was that the selection of mid-range stores didn't reflect the affluence of the surrounding populace.


Early 2000s

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 mall's lower level in 2005 with a handful of exceptions including Cupertino Ice Center, Tilt Family Entertainment Center (two years later Strike Bowling, then Bowlmor Lanes), and Dynasty Seafood Restaurant, 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 A mechanic's lien is a security interest in the title to property for the benefit of those who have supplied labor or materials that improve the property. The lien exists for both real property and personal property. In the realm of real property, ...
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. 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, which switched managing agents from Landmark Property Management to Jones Lang LaSalle. On May 4, 2007, a new 16-screen AMC movie theater opened in the center of the mall, coinciding with the theatrical release of '' Spider-Man 3''. The grand opening of this highly anticipated film and the theater was heavily marketed towards the students of nearby
Cupertino High School Cupertino High School, colloquially referred to as "Tino", "CHS", is a four-year comprehensive public high school located near the Rancho Rinconada and Fairgrove neighborhoods of Cupertino, California, USA. The school serves mostly suburban reside ...
. During construction, on February 27, 2006, strong winds toppled a 30-ton crane onto the mall, puncturing a substantial hole in the roof and resulting in water damage to several stores. On July 20, 2007, a new bowling alley called Strike Bowling opened at the former location of Tilt Family Entertainment Center, and access to it from Cupertino Ice Center was closed off. In November 2010, the bowling alley was renamed Bowlmor Lanes. Renovation of the mall that began in 2005 continued. By 2009, two new parking structures were added to the complex. Future plans at the time included new shops facing the street at the corner of Wolfe Road and Vallco Parkway, a seismic upgrade of the parking garage west of the theaters and the main mall structure, two new hotels, and a Hofbrau beer hall adjacent AMC Theatres. The bankruptcy filing in 2008 derailed these plans. 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. 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''.


Current ownership

In October 2014, Sand Hill Property Co. purchased the Macy's, J. C. Penney, and Sears sites for approximately US$200 million. In November 2014, Sand Hill 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. In January 2015, J. C. Penney and Macy's announced plans to close their Vallco locations; Sears also announced that its store would close in October 2015. These left Vallco without any
anchor tenant In retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are typically located at the ends of malls. W ...
s. In August 2015, Sand Hill announced a plan to demolish the mall structures and make it into The Hills at Vallco, a retail, office, and residential development based on a street grid. It was to be covered with the world's largest
green roof A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage ...
, to be occupied by a city park. Rafael Viñoly Architects and OLIN Landscape Architects were selected as chief designers of the project. In November 2016, voters rejected two ballot initiatives related to Vallco: Measure C, which would have attempted to freeze Vallco as a retail center without offices or housing, in addition to imposing additional restrictions on development options throughout the city, and Measure D, which would have approved the proposed Hills at Vallco project, bypassing standard city approval processes. In the wake of the votes, Sand Hill announced it would stop investing in the mall. Managing Director Reed Moulds said the company "will not sell the land nor make investments into the current failed asset. In order for us to invest in Vallco we have to be certain it will be a worthwhile investment and not just the Band-Aid approaches that have failed Vallco for decades. Until Cupertino is ready for that approach, we have no choice but to stop". In a follow-up statement, Moulds said that current tenants' leases would be honored so long as they remained at the mall; AMC Theatres, Bowlmor Lanes, Ice Center Cupertino, and Benihana all indicated their intention to stay. However, all vacant areas of the mall would be closed for security reasons, and remaining tenants without lease terms were to be evicted. In May 2017, Sand Hill began implementing the closure of vacant areas, with seven new interior walls erected and a fenced-off section in front of the former Macy's. On March 7, 2018, Sand Hill and AMC Theatres announced that the movie theater would close on March 22, 2018 – making the 16-screen megaplex's lifespan less than 11 years. In March 2018, Sand Hill proposed a revised mixed-use development plan with an increase from 800 to 2,402 residential units, and still including a roof-top park. The company submitted an application under SB 35, a 2017 California law that seeks to mitigate the state's housing crisis by eliminating the requirement for local approval of certain kinds of developments that include housing. This proposal has been approved by the city. Advisory plans being developed by members of the community through a
charrette A charrette (American pronunciation: ), often Anglicized to charette or charet and sometimes called a design charrette, is an intense period of design or planning activity. The word ''charrette'' may refer to any collaborative process by which ...
would include 2,400 residential units and more retail space than Sand Hill's plan. On December 1, 2018, Dynasty Seafood Restaurant closed. Bay Club closed its doors in July 2019, leaving the entirety of the mall west of Wolfe Road (as well as the bridge over the road) vacant; all the remaining tenants occupy the smaller eastern portion of the mall.


Demolition

On October 11, 2018, Sand Hill initiated demolition of one parking garage of the mall, followed by demolition of the mall itself in six to nine months' time. In August 2019 (ten months after the start of demolition), Sand Hill demolished the other parking garage under the scope of the original permit (adjacent to the site of the first parking garage), and after receiving a new permit, began demolition of the majority of the mall west of Wolfe Road on August 12. On March 27, 2020, Sand Hill announced that demolition of the bridge over Wolfe Road would commence on March 30. Wolfe Road under the bridge was closed, with traffic detoured onto the mall's Perimeter Road. Due to reduced traffic caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, the demolition had minimal impact on local businesses. The demolition of the bridge was completed on April 8.


Permitting progress

On September 16, 2021, AB1174 was signed into law, which gives projects (like Vallco) using the special approval of SB35 more time to start construction to compensate for delays caused by lawsuits.


References

{{Shopping malls in California Shopping malls in the San Francisco Bay Area Shopping malls in Santa Clara County, California Shopping malls established in 1976 Cupertino, California Defunct shopping malls in the United States 1976 establishments in California