History
On May 3, 1972, plans for Oregon's largest shopping mall at that time were announced by Winmar Pacific, Inc., a developer bought by Safeco in 1967. It was to be a 130-acre (0.53 km2) development with space for 100 stores. The mall was to include over 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m2) on 85 acres (340,000 m2) in an L-shaped pattern. On August 16, 1973, Meier & Frank became the first tenant to open at the mall. Sears and Lipman's then opened that November followed by Liberty House and Nordstrom during the summer of 1974. The grand opening of the facility began on February 21, 1974.
In 1979 Frederick & Nelson acquired and renamed the Lipman's chain, and in 1980 Mervyn's took over the space originally occupied by Liberty House. Originally in an unincorporated area near Beaverton, Tigard, and Portland, those cities fought to annex the center in 1986. Tigard was awarded the right to annex Washington Square along with other adjacent properties that contain Lincoln Center and the Embassy Suites Hotel. 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 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.
In December 1998, the mall was sold by Safeco, a Seattle-headquartered insurance company, to a partnership of The Macerich Company and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (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, took over management of the property. In 2005, Macerich opened a 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m2) addition, housing 30 more stores (including The Cheesecake Factory, Sephora, Lucy Activewear, Godiva Chocolatier, and Williams-Sonoma). 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.
In February 2011, Swedish clothing retailer H&M opened their doors at Washington Square, it is the company's 2nd location in Oregon.
Read more about this topic: Washington Square (Oregon)
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