The Mall (Huntsville, Alabama)
The Mall was a shopping mall in Huntsville, Alabama. It opened on March 24, 1966, at the northwest corner of Memorial Parkway and University Drive, with Loveman's and JCPenney as its original anchor stores. The center had approximately of retail space.
The mall declined in the 1990s and was demolished around 1998. The site was later redeveloped as a power center known as The Fountain, with tenants including Costco, Home Depot, Staples, and Books-A-Million.
History
The Mall opened in 1966 during a period of rapid growth in Huntsville connected to the city's aerospace and defense industries. It was located near the intersection of Memorial Parkway, U.S. Route 231, U.S. Route 431, and University Drive, U.S. Route 72.
The original anchor stores were Loveman's and JCPenney. DeadMalls.com describes the mall as a facility, while Mallmanac describes it as one of Huntsville's early automobile-oriented shopping malls.
By the early 1990s, part of the mall was being used by Calhoun Community College, a temporary use nicknamed the "mall-ege" by some students. Later, some exterior-facing tenants, including Toys "R" Us and Books-A-Million, closed off their entrances to the mall interior while continuing to operate from the site.
The mall was demolished around 1998 and replaced by The Fountain, a power center. The former mall's center-court fountain sculpture was preserved and placed in a traffic roundabout at the redevelopment, giving The Fountain its name.
Redevelopment
The site of The Mall became The Fountain, a retail power center on North Memorial Parkway at University Drive. The City of Huntsville later cited the redevelopment as an example of the city's reuse of former indoor mall properties, noting that the former mall site became a center featuring Costco, Home Depot, Staples, and Books-A-Million.