History
The mall opened in 1977 and was initially anchored by Bloomingdale's, Lord & Taylor, and I. Magnin. Borders Books and Music took over the I. Magnin location in 1992; it closed in 2011. The inside of the mall used to have distinct "neighborhoods" resembling city blocks and Italian thoroughfares, including the third level "Georgetown" office park, and the "Via Rialto" located underneath I. Magnin where restaurants now stand. The fountain under the escalators in the Via Rialto was removed after the closing of I. Magnin. The last two fountains, which were located in front of the Otis Inground Glass Hydraulic Elevators, were removed during a 2004 center court facelift.
Since 1984, the mall has been served by the White Flint station on the Red Line of the Washington Metro.
In November 2011, Lerner Enterprises announced plans to deconstruct the 850,000-square-foot mall and its large parking deck and replace it with four office buildings, a 300-room hotel, 1 million square feet of retail and restaurant space, and 12 apartment buildings consisting of a total of 2,500 residences. The developers expected construction to begin two years following approval. The project would take approximately 25 years to be fully completed.
On January 5, 2012, Macy's Inc. announced that the mall's Bloomingdale's store would close in March 2012. Bloomingdale's closed on March 14 2012.
Read more about this topic: White Flint Mall
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