History
El Con Mall opened in 1960 as the first mall in Tucson, Arizona, adjacent to the El Conquistador Hotel. Although initial plans called for the hotel to be part of the mall itself, these plans were later scrapped. An outdoor mall at the time of its opening, El Con Mall was anchored by the local department store Levy's, and chain stores Montgomery Ward and Woolworth. In 1967, the former El Conquistador Hotel space was demolished, and a new Levy's store was built on its site. Steinfeld's moved from its historic Stone and Pennington downtown location into Levy's former store at the shopping center's NE corner. New Goldwater's (1978) and J. C. Penney (1971) stores were built along a connecting link, and the mall was enclosed. Joseph Kivel, developer of El Con Mall, later opened another shopping mall, what is now Park Place, in 1975. After his death in 1995, his interest in both malls was left to his two sons. In 1996, Park Mall was sold to General Growth Properties.
Steinfeld's closed, and became a winter-time-only soup kitchen in 1984, & the Pavilion Food Court in 1993. Levy's (which was owned by Federated Department Stores) became Sanger-Harris in 1985, marking the first of several name changes in the mall's western anchor store. Sanger-Harris became Foley's in 1987, and Robinsons-May in 1993. Goldwater's, in turn, became Dillard's in 1989. Woolworth's closed in 1993.
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