Westfield Garden State Plaza - History

History

Garden State Plaza was built in 1957 by the Muscarelle Construction Company for owner/developer R.H. Macy & Co. as an open-air shopping "plaza". Its groundbreaking design differed from today's "Big Box" shopping areas in that, rather than having its tenants strung around the periphery of one large parking lot, the stores, except for those more suited for out-parcels (e.g. automotive repair and retail), were clustered on a shopping island, encircled by a moat of parking lots, much like today. Connecting the stores were open-air sidewalks, complete with benches, plantered trees and other vegetation. This model approximated a "downtown" pedestrian mall, at the same time serving as a precursor of the latter-day enclosed and air-conditioned shopping malls. Eventually it would siphon most of the retail business from nearby downtown Paterson, whose Meyer Brothers and Quackenbush department stores (later Stern's-Quackenbush) would fall upon hard times and melt into history.

The original anchor was Bamberger's (owned by R.H. Macy since 1929). Gimbels and J.C. Penney were added in 1958. Total construction costs were $26 million in 1957 for the mall and its original group of 90 stores.

Garden State Plaza drew much business from nearby New York towns and cities, whose shoppers wandered across state lines to take advantage of New Jersey's lower sales taxes and its policy that exempted clothing purchases from sales tax. By 1961, it was the world's largest mall.

The mall was enclosed between 1981 and 1984 in response to competitive pressure from newer fully enclosed malls such as the Willowbrook Mall in nearby Wayne.

In the late 1980s, the mall added a new lower level by converting a former basement truck tunnel into regular retail. The existing J.C.Penney basement was given a new entrance on the lower level, but since the floors were at slightly different elevations, that entrance features the shortest escalator in North America, at a height of six steps.

As part of this expansion, Nordstrom opened its first New Jersey location on September 7, 1990, building a $37 million, 272,000 sq ft (25,300 m2)., three-level store on the former Gimbel's site. Lord & Taylor opened a store in the mall in 1991, its seventh in the state at the time.

In 1996, Garden State Plaza marked the completion of a $200 million expansion and major remodeling project that added over 700,000 sq ft (65,000 m2) of retail space and two four level parking structures with a bank of two elevators situated in a small lobby on the third and fourth levels. On the first and second levels, the elevators and parking structures connect directly to the mall. The downstairs food court was connected to the lower level from the previous expansion. J.C.Penney grew by 62,000 sq ft (5,800 m2) to 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m2), and two new anchors were added, a 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m2) Neiman Marcus on three levels and a 135,000 sq ft (12,500 m2) Lord & Taylor on two levels, both targeted at the upscale fashion-conscious shopper.

Westfield acquired the mall in 1986 from Macy's in a deal that also included New Jersey's Brunswick Square Mall and Quaker Bridge Mall.

The Borough of Paramus petitioned the New Jersey Supreme Court to review a decision by borough's Planning Board, asking it to review the plans to construct a 163,000-square-foot (15,100 m2) "entertainment lifestyle precinct" at the mall that includes a 16-screen AMC movie theater and 10 specialty retail stores, along with a 158,000-square-foot (14,700 m2) parking lot below the new wing. The petition was turned down, and the mall celebrated its 50th Anniversary with the new expansion and stores opened on May 25, 2007.