Central City (formerly known as Surrey Place Mall) is a

mixed-use development Mixed use is a type of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning classification that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions ...

that houses a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

, a university campus and an office tower complex in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, British Columbia, Canada. It is owned by Blackwood Partners Management Corporation. The Central City tower, main entrance and galleria were designed by

Bing Thom Architects Bing Wing Thom, (Chinese: 譚秉榮; 8 December 1940 – 4 October 2016) was a Canadian architect and urban designer. Born in Hong Kong, he immigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with his family in 1950. The tower houses one of the three

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

campuses. The complex is located near two SkyTrain stations –

Surrey Central Surrey Central was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, used in the 1997 and 2000 elections to elect a Member of Parliament for the 36th and 37th Parliaments, respectively. The electoral district was created, in 1996, a ...

and

King George King George may refer to: People Monarchs ;Bohemia *George of Bohemia (1420-1471, r. 1458-1471), king of Bohemia ;Duala people of Cameroon * George (Duala king) (late 18th century), king of the Duala people ;Georgia *George I of Georgia (998 or ...

– and is the second-largest shopping centre in Surrey after

Guildford Town Centre Guildford Town Centre is a shopping mall located in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. It opened on November 8, 1966, and is owned by Ivanhoé Cambridge, a Quebec-based real estate company. It is the largest mall in the Lower Mainland south of the F ...

History and development

Originally, the shopping centre was built in the 1970s as Surrey Place Mall, a standalone shopping centre, and was managed and owned by the

Insurance Corporation of British Columbia The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) is a provincial Crown corporation in British Columbia providing vehicle insurance. ICBC was created in 1973 by the NDP government of Premier Dave Barrett. By law, any vehicle registered an ...

. It underwent renovations and refurbishments throughout the 1980s and 1990s; however, the popularity of Guildford Town Centre began to challenge the mall's position as a dominant shopping centre in Surrey. In the late 1990s, the foot traffic of the mall suffered severely and many stores became untenanted. However, in 1999, part of the mall was sold off and was redeveloped, with the addition of an expansion to the mall including a new podium and a high-rise office tower also known as the Central City tower. From 2003 to 2017, the Central City tower was the tallest building in Surrey. In 2007, the rest of Central City mall was sold to Blackwood Partners Management Corporation. The mall was affected by the closings of Target Canada and Future Shop, but

Walmart Canada Walmart Canada is a Canadian retail corporation, discount retailer and the Canadian subsidiary of the U.S.-based multinational retail conglomerate Walmart. Headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta, it was founded on March 17, ...

took over Target Canada's location along with Future Shop's former

Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was r ...

-branded location. , given the mixed use of the complex—which includes space dedicated to retail, educational, and office uses—along with an increase in residential condominium density in the surrounding area, the mall has become busier than it was in the preceding decade.

Anchor tenants

Current

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

Winners Winners Merchants International L.P. is a chain of off-price Canadian department stores owned by TJX Companies. Its market niche is similar to the American chain TJ Maxx, and it is a partnered retailer to department stores HomeSense and Marshall ...

The Brick The Brick Ltd. is a Canadian retailer of furniture, mattresses, home appliance, appliances and home electronics. The company was founded as The Brick Warehouse LP by brothers, John, Fred, and Bill Comrie. The first warehouse opened on Septembe ...

Shoppers Drug Mart Shoppers Drug Mart Inc. (colloquially Shoppers; named Pharmaprix in Quebec) is a Canadian retail pharmacy chain based in Toronto, Ontario. It has more than 1,300 stores in ten provinces and two territories. The company was founded by pharmacist ...

T & T Supermarket T&T Supermarket () is a Canadian Asian supermarket chain founded in Vancouver in 1993 by Jack and Cindy Lee who was the founding CEO. Cindy's eldest daughter Tina Lee succeeded her mother in 2014. In 2009, T&T Supermarket was acquired by Lobla ...

Dollarama Dollarama Inc. is a Canadian dollar store retail chain headquartered in Mount Royal, Quebec. Since 2009, it has been Canada's biggest retailer of items for five dollars or less. Dollarama has over 1400 stores and is active in all of Canada; Onta ...

Former

Zellers Zellers was a Canadian discount store chain founded by Walter P. Zeller in 1931. It was acquired by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in 1978, and after a series of acquisitions and expansions, peaked with 350 locations in 1999. However, fierce ...

– in former The Bay location, closed February 11, 2013; was replaced by Target on November 13, 2013 * The Bay – closed May 8, 2000, Zellers relocated in this space, now Walmart *

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

– closed June 4, 2005, (now T & T Supermarket) *

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * 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 artille ...

– in former Zellers location, (opened November 13, 2013, closed April 1, 2015); replaced by Walmart on February 25, 2016 *

Future Shop Future Shop was a Canadian electronics store chain. It was established in 1982 by Hassan Khosrowshahi. By 1990, the chain had become the country's largest retailer of computer and consumer electronics. In October 2012, the company operated 149 l ...

– closed March 28, 2015, due to consolidation as Best Buy; reopened as Best Buy in late 2015 *

Bed Bath & Beyond Bed Bath & Beyond was an American big-box retail chain specializing in housewares, furniture, and specialty items. Headquartered in Union, New Jersey, the chain operated stores in the United States and Canada, and was once counted among the ...

– closed January 2020

Simon Fraser University

Unlike other shopping centres in the region, and owing to its unique two-stage development, the main building of

's Surrey campus is located within the mall and occupies a major portion () of the podium floors. The central atrium of the mall, similar to the hull of a ship, consists of retail space on the ground floor and provides a direct line of sight towards the campus hallways and classrooms on the upper floors.

Transportation

Central City Shopping Centre is accessible to the regional SkyTrain system, with the closest station being

Surrey Central station Surrey Central is an elevated station on the Expo Line of Metro Vancouver's SkyTrain rapid transit system. The station is located in the Whalley / City Centre district of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, just east of the North Surrey Recrea ...

. The terminus

King George station King George is an elevated station on the Expo Line of Metro Vancouver's SkyTrain rapid transit system. The station is located in the south end of the Surrey City Centre district of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, and is one of the outbound ...

is also within five minutes' walking distance to the south. The Surrey Central bus loop is adjacent to Surrey Central station and serves as a transfer point to several routes which serve the region.

Gallery

File:Ctrl-city1.jpg, Central City's interiors, looking south File:Ctrl-city2.jpg, Central City's interiors, looking north File:SFU Surrey, 28 mars 2008, 2.jpg, Entrance void File:Central city plaza lehoux.jpg, Central City entrance File:Surrey Central City Shopping Centre & Office Tower (High Rise Tower view-2011).jpg, Central City viewed from a high-rise tower File:Centralcityshoppingcentrefoodcourt.jpg, Mall food court looking east

External links

*
Simon Fraser University Surrey

References

{{Shopping Malls in Metro Vancouver Shopping malls in Metro Vancouver Shopping malls established in 2003 2003 establishments in British Columbia Buildings and structures in Surrey, British Columbia