Northline Commons: Formerly Northline Mall

Northline Commons is the cookie cutter shopping complex that has replaced the dead Northline Mall. This article is an update to my previous Northline Mall post. Several of the stores are carryovers from the mall such as Palais Royal, Foot Locker, Marlon's, WaMu, and CiCi's Pizza. The center still has a small section of parking lot from the Montgomery Ward with the old style parking lot lights left, but that is the only remnant of the mall that was there. This center is doing well and may beat out the redevelopment at Gulfgate with more available land for development.

Northline Mall Houston Texas

Here is the first mall submission from Houston Texas; the Northline Mall.

Not much is on the internet about this mall so this is what I have put together from my own research. A Montgomery Wards opened up by itself before the mall was built at the northern portion of the site. Northline mall opened in the early 1960’s at the corner of I-45 & Crosstimbers Rd. The anchors were Joske’s TG&Y and Montgomery Ward. This mall possibly may have been outdoor and enclosed after its opening. The design of the mall is very simple and has not been really updated since the 1980’s. There was a jewelry store that still retained its 1960’s style fixtures and sign until closing. Joske’s closed in 1989 and was replaced in 1997 by a Magic Johnson theatre. During demolition of the old Joske’s the inside retaining wall fell into the mall killing several people. Montgomery Wards stayed open until the chain closed in 2001 and the retro neon sign stayed on for a while after its closure. In 2001 the TG&Y closed as well with the rest of the chain. A branch of Houston community college was located in the back of the mall. A Picadilly cafeteria and Chinese restaurant were located in the southern end of the mall until 2005. The lineup of stores when we took the photos was very small only with about 10 stores left and a mini anchor Palais Royal. A Burger King was the only restaurant left. About 30 stores and restaurants closed in the last year of business. The Wards was torn down in 2006 and the parking lot was torn away to make room for the new big box development and rail line downtown extension from Main Street. The mall was torn down in November of 2007 and the big boxes have popped up all over the site. Palais Royal, Ross, and several others are open or under construction. The college that was connected to the mall is still standing but looks to be abandoned to make room for what is rumored to be a new Wal-Mart. The Magic theaters were originally to have stayed open but those were demolished as well. The good news is that several of the mall in-line stores and CiCi's pizza have opened up in the new strip centers within a very short time of the mall's closure. The site has been renamed Northline crossing and they even have a billboard advertising the center on I-45. I have added some photos taken before the mall's demise.