Buena Park Downtown, formerly Buena Park Mall, is an enclosed shopping mall located on La Palma Avenue in Buena Park, California, United States, near Knott's Berry Farm. Currently owned by Coventry Real Estate Advisors, the mall is anchored by Bed Bath & Beyond, TJ Maxx, Ross Dress For Less, Sears and Wal-Mart.
As of 2007 it is the 20th largest mall in Orange County, with around 1,100,000 square feet (100,000 m2) of retail space. It has languished in sales, however; at $123 million, it brings in half of other malls its size, such as WP Glimcher's Westminster Mall and Westfield MainPlace.
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History
Built in 1961, the Buena Park Mall was one of the first malls in Orange County, anchored by JCPenney, Sears, and May Company California. A United Artists movie theater opened in 1984, to close in 1999; the space has been converted for retail use. The May Company closed and was replaced with discount chain Fedco
The mall was neglected in the 1980s and 1990s even as the local retail market changed. In 1995 a group controlled by the Pritzker family of Chicago bought the mall for $41 million from Australia's City Freeholds, Inc., and planned a $120 million renovation.
The modernization was stalled for several years. After FedCo closed, the leaseholder sought to sublet the space to Gigante, a Mexican supermarket chain, and opposed a major renovation. Target Corporation, which had acquired FedCo in 1999, refused to allow the lease to be transferred to another discount retailer. Finally, in late 2001, the city of Buena Park itself paid $3.2 million to take over the Fedco lease and transfer it to Wal-Mart, which now occupies the space. Completed in 2003, the renovation also replaced the former JC Penney with a new Krikorian Theaters multiplex.
Burlington Coat Factory, a later addition, closed in 2005 and was replaced with Steve & Barry's which closed in 2008. Tower Records also operated in the mall until the demise of the chain in 2007. The Chicago eatery Portillo's opened their first Southern California outlet at the mall in 2005, next to the Pat & Oscar's, along the La Palma edge of the parking lot. Steve & Barry's closed in 2009. Circuit City was formerly one of the principal stores of Buena Park Place, but closed in 2009 due to its bankruptcy.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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