Lindale Mall - History

History

On February 15, 1956, Sears and Younkers announced plans for a new open-air shopping center in northeast Cedar Rapids. These plans were opposed by downtown Cedar Rapids merchants, who formed an organization to oppose the rezoning of the land from residential to commercial use. The Cedar Rapids City Council eventually approved the rezoning, and Lindale Plaza opened on September 15, 1960. Sears, Younkers, and Killian's (a local department store) were Lindale's original anchors, with Sears relocating from downtown Cedar Rapids. Other early tenants included Kresge's, an Eagle supermarket, and Bishop's Buffet (which closed in September 2003). Sears and Younkers are the only two tenants who have continuously operated at Lindale since its opening.

Lindale Plaza became the enclosed Lindale Mall in 1980, shortly after Westdale Mall opened in southwest Cedar Rapids. The only anchor change in Lindale's history came in 1981, when Petersen Harned Von Maur replaced Killian's as the latter went bankrupt (its last store in downtown Cedar Rapids closed in November 1982). In August 1997, Lindale completed a $15 million expansion and renovation project that included construction of a new 500-stall parking ramp and a new 500-seat food court.

Lindale Plaza was built by Bernard Greenbaum and Associates, who also built Merle Hay Mall in Des Moines. Greenbaum later sold Lindale to General Growth Properties, who opened the Town & Country Shopping Center 1½ miles to the south in 1956. (Town & Country was Cedar Rapids' first strip mall and General Growth's first shopping center.) General Growth sold Lindale to the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States in 1984 as part of its real estate investment trust liquidation but continued to manage the mall until March 1998, when SDG Macerich — a partnership of the Simon Property Group and The Macerich Company — purchased Lindale Mall. Simon currently manages the mall.