Before we get started with our 2021 visit, here are some newer photos generously sent in by our friend Philip Hudman from 2022.
Inside of the former Aladdin's Castle arcade.
Here is the exterior of the Aladdin's Castle, pre-renovations from my visit in July 2020.
Now for my 2021 visit, things have certainly changed.
The JCPenney corridor has mostly been cut off from access by this new wall. The remaining storefronts facing East are still intact, but now they can only be accessed through this small hallway. The mall is listed at 191,356 Square feet of retail space on Loopnet, but I believe this is without the anchor spaces listed.
The JCPenney entrance in 2011.
A door separating the old mall corridor from the small hallway was open, so we had to peek inside.
Bath and Body Works storefront.
Looking towards the JCPenney entrance.
Nail salon and Foot Locker spaces.
2011 Comparison of the above section of the mall.
One of the most glaring things is that the remainder of the neon has been pulled.
Here is what the front of the Bath and Body Works looked like in 2020.
Hard to tell without the storefronts, but the above photo is close to where this was taken in 2020.
Here is the small hallway that leads to the center hallway with the East facing stores still intact.
View from 2011 visit.
One of the stores is now a martial arts facility.
The sandwich shop is still in business, but it was closed on our Sunday visit.
The same sandwich shop in 2020. The corridor in the middle is now sealed off.
You can also see this storefront in the above picture next to the Sandwich shop.
Now for the center hallway which has changed greatly since our last visit.
The former Gordon's was open to walk into as well.
And another small portion of the old corridor is found. This is across from the sandwich shop.
This spot is so strange. I guess they walled it off like this to make another future store space along the remodeled center corridor.
Taken from almost the same spot in 2011. The trash can is probably the same on in both photos. You can also see the right side of the Gordon's in both photos.
The former checkout counter at Gordon's.
The vault is wide open.
Back out into the remodeled center corridor, we see the former entrance to Bealls. This is the current entrance to the sandwich shop with tables inside for dining.
A look down the renovated corridor, Aladdin's Castle was on the right side.
The same corridor in 2020.
The doors that lead into the JCPenney corridor hallway.
The center court skylights, no more neon though!
2011 view of the same skylight. The entire corridor leading to Belk shown here is completely gone. The stores with exterior entrances have taken over that space.
Here is the small mall corridor leading to JCPenney. The wall separates the front facing storefronts. The sandwich shop has their old signage still intact.
JCPenney is peeking out at the end of the hallway. JCPenney is now Ollie's and does not open up into the old mall.
A USDA office has taken up space in one of the former storefronts as well.
Not much to see here.
The weird coin-op games and candy machines. The mall restrooms remain open.
Even though we were the only people inside of the mall, the doors we open to walk in. This hallway is about the only part of the property that has not been renovated yet.
The Fairy Nails that was previously inside of the mall relocated to this space.
The main entrance to the mall.
The front of the mall near Ollie's has been heavily modified to showcase the newly separated store spaces for future tenants.
The Belk side of the mall is fully leased.
The main entrance before the new logo was put up.
Now for some shots of the newly created exterior storefronts looking through the new glass doors. The larger Foot Locker space was divided in half as show here. This space was used for a gym that appears to have moved to the back section of the mall. Maybe they will move back up front once the renovations are completed.
The old Fairy Nails space.
The long closed off space next to the JCPenney mall entrance.
A random back-room janitors closet looking area. This was also visible from the new entryway glass.
More to come, stay tuned!
I remember your University Mall posts from years past and it is sad to see a mall with some nice retro elements and a decent list of tenants basically become de-malled, here in modern times. That said, at least the center is changing with the times and is finding some new tenants like Ollie's that people are pretty excited about in modern times. Thanks for taking the time to show the before and after photos. I wouldn't have believed that some of these areas were a mall before without the photos showing it!
ReplyDeleteIn some ways, it's a bit surprising that the developers didn't just turn the entire center into a big box center like what happened at North Oaks Mall years ago where pretty much everything except for the theater area was replaced with big box stores and such. OTOH, it's neat that there are still some halls and such which kind of give someone a sense of the old mall. That said, certainly the decor does not look like the old mall except for rare things like the sandwich shop.
I do like the 3D-like logo in the first photo. That logo does have more visual pop than many modern signs.
The loss of this enclosed mall is a shame, but thankfully there is a nearby mall in Lufkin that is doing so-so. This mall was never really a destination and probably should have been built in a different part of town. The road where the mall is located is not the main retail corridor of the city. The mall property is also far away from the freeway, so it doesn't attract passers-by like the Lufkin Mall does.
DeleteOwnership has done a tremendous job of filling empty spaces and bringing the property back to life. I just wish the one full mall corridor would have been saved. The neon was such a great part of the charm of that mall. The new sign does look really good.