Westlake Shopping Center is one of the first

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 ...

s built in America; ground was broken in 1948 for the mall in

Daly City Daly City () is the second most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, with population of 104,901 according to the 2020 census. Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, and immediately south of San Francisco (sharing its ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States. It is anchored by

Burlington Coat Factory Burlington, formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, is an American national off-price department store retailer, and a division of Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation with more than 1,000 stores in 40 states and Puerto Rico, with it ...

Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational corporation, multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the l ...

Ross Ross or ROSS may refer to: People * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan * Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland Places * RoSS, the Republic of Sou ...

Safeway Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

, and

Walgreens Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, an ...

History

In 1945, developer Henry Doelger purchased of land in

San Mateo County San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City is the county seat, and the third most populated city following Daly ...

just south of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

; the tracts had previously been used for hog and cabbage farming. Over the next twenty years, Doelger would go on to develop the area into the Westlake neighborhood of

, including the shopping center, originally named Westlake Town & Country Shopping Center, in the center of the tract. Doelger broke ground on the Westlake development in 1949; the groundbreaking ceremony for the shopping center was held in March 1949. The uniform appearance of the planned community (notorious for its racial restrictions) inspired singer Malvina Reynolds to write the song "

Little Boxes "Little Boxes" is a song written and composed by Malvina Reynolds in 1962, which became a hit for her friend Pete Seeger in 1963, when he released his cover version. The song is a social satire about the development of suburbia, and associa ...

" in 1962. Westlake opened on April 20, 1951, making it one of the earliest malls in

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

; at the time, its 3,000-car parking area was the largest in America. It was also the first community shopping center in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

. Its open-air pedestrian promenades allowed the center to be used for outdoor concerts, art shows, fairs, dances, and other community events for many years. Doelger sold the Westlake Shopping Center in 1965. Westlake was subsequently purchased by the Westlake Development Company in 1972, who later sold it to its current owners,

Kimco Realty Corporation Kimco Realty® (NYSE:KIM) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) headquartered in Jericho, N.Y. that is North America’s largest publicly traded owner and operator of open-air, grocery-anchored shopping centers, including mixed-use assets. The ...

, on October 22, 2002. In 2017 Kimco announced plans to add apartments above ground-level retail at Westlake. Under those plans, a 6-story mixed-use building with 179 apartments on the upper floors would replace an existing 2-story commercial building and a 60-space parking lot; underground parking would be provided for 260 cars. The proposed mixed-use building would replace the existing northeast corner of the Westlake site, near the intersection of John Daly Boulevard and Park Plaza Drive. The developer has received permission for this plan. In 2018, it was announced that Kimco has plans to work to develop in housing at Daly City.

Design

Westlake Shopping Center occupies the super-block bounded by John Daly Boulevard (on the north), Park Plaza Drive (on the east), Southgate Avenue (on the south), and Lake Merced Boulevard (on the west); it also encompasses the retail/business properties on the south side of Southgate, extending west past Lake Merced Blvd.

Phase I renovation

Westlake was renovated starting in 2004; Kimco have used the site to test programs to build consumer traffic, including offering Wi-Fi and electric vehicle charging stations on-site. The J.C. Penney building was demolished in 2005 and a Home Depot store was constructed on its old site. In addition, a

Cost Plus World Market World Market, formerly Cost Plus World Market until 2021, is an American chain of specialty/import retail stores, selling home furniture, decor, curtains, rugs, gifts, apparel, coffee, wine, craft beer, and international food products. The bran ...

opened in a new building in the center of the mall. Phase I involved relocation and enlargement of the Trader Joe's. Phase I will involve demolition of of retail space, construction of approximately of new retail development, and the removal of 96 parking spaces, resulting in of net new development and a 5 percent reduction of parking stalls. The decor was modified to give the mall's center strip a Main Street look.

Phase II renovation

Phase II involves construction of of new retail uses, including construction of a second floor addition to the existing one-story retail building. Phase II also involves construction of a parking garage, construction of necessary public improvements, relocation of utilities in the shopping center, and upgrading pedestrian walkways and vehicle facilities.City Services Article about Phase II
Retrieved June 7, 2007

Anchors

The Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement re ...

The original Westlake Shopping center featured J. C. Penney and Woolworth as its anchor stores.

References

External links

*
Little Boxes Architecture
book and documentary film about Westlake, by Rob Keil
Attachment B: Westlake Shopping Center Mixed-Use Redevelopment
by Kimco/SGPA, October 12, 2017 {{Shopping malls in California 1949 establishments in California Shopping malls in San Mateo County, California Shopping malls in the San Francisco Bay Area Shopping malls established in 1949