Northcross Mall. The Old Town Square.

 

NOTE: this article was originally written for the Northwest Austin Civic Association newsletter.

The Village Shopping Center at 2700 West Anderson Lane is this year, 2024, celebrating its 50^th anniversary. It’s also been about 50 years since the opening of another Northwest Austin icon: Northcross Mall, just across Anderson Lane from The Village.

While there is a resurgence in nostalgia for old malls of late, if you are new to the area you probably don’t see why anyone would be nostalgic about today’s Northcross Mall. But before it was largely demolished for the nearby Walmart, it served as more than just a mall; it was almost like a town square. In fact that was the whole idea.

Plans for "the largest and most luxurious shopping center yet" for Austin began as far back as 1965 (The Austin American, Mar 7, 1965). It was a 52-acre tract, with more than 10 acres under one roof with 500,000+ square feet of retail space, all centered around the huge Chaparral Ice Rink (no, not the one there today). As the 1965 news article said, Northcross was seen as a revival of "the centuries-old idea of the town square, a true center of activity, entertainment and commerce for the whole community." At Christmas you went there to see Santa; in the Spring you went to see the Easter Bunny; and in the summer you went there to cool off. With a huge ice rink as the center of the town square, it was a cool place to hang out. Pun intended. In today’s parlance it was a community “cooling center”.

The mall was anchored by large Texas based shopping chains that included Frost Bros., Scarbrough's and Bealls. There was a huge J. Rich Sports where you could get outfitted before heading to Colorado for ski season (later became Osmans’s Supersports which included indoor sports like mini-golf). In addition to the ice rink, entertainment included the Northcross Six Theaters (six screens) and popular eating establishments including Furr's Cafeteria (cafeteria-style dining like Luby's), Chelsea St. Pub, and in later years even a Hooters. From about 1998 to 2006 Northcross became the Austin Ice Bats’ (now defunct minor league ice hockey team) home base.

Decline of Northcross began in the early 2000s. Northcross owners announced plans to “redevelop” (demolish) the Northcross Mall site, replacing it with a Walmart Supercenter that would include a three story parking garage for 800 cars. A 2006 editorial in the paper discussed community concerns: "The controversy [over a Walmart Supercenter] has erupted over [the impact to] Northcross Mall (Austin American-Statesman, Dec 4, 2006). For clarification the community concerns were more than just the impact to Northcross, but the impact of a Walmart Supercenter in general. Neighborhood residents from Crestview, Allandale, North Shoal Creek, Brentwood, Rosedale and Wooten were in opposition. A hand-out at one neighborhood meeting of some 350 residents included the “ten reasons why Walmart was wrong for Northcross” (Austin American-Statesman Dec 4, 2006).

While Northcross owners cited a decline in profitability from reduced use, some actions taken by owners of the time caused speculation that a bit of self-fulfilling prophecy was at play. Despite protests and legal challenges, the redevelopment proceeded albeit with a significantly downsized Walmart (no longer a “supercenter”) opening in 2010; what we have today at 2525 W Anderson Lane. Still, the old Northcross Mall was largely demolished, the current mall bearing little resemblance to the old.

Today Northcross serves as a mixed-use space, blending retail including Guitar Center, small restaurants, along with office space and community amenities. After the closure of the original ice rink, Chaparral Ice relocated and continued to operate within the redeveloped Northcross.

But take it from an old-time Austinite: Northcross today has little in common with the original other than the name.