Oak View Mall (144 & West Center Rd)

[ricko]

Think of the possibilities———hamburger sashimi is my jam.

[mrsticka]

I think I'll go to another parallel universe where Oak View is still booming and bustling and it's bigger. JCPenney's and Sears both have their own wings leading to them just like how Dillard's and Younker's do (or did). Both Sears and Younker's are still there. Neither Sears nor Younker's' parent company Bon-Ton filed for bankruptcy. So they're not closing any of their stores nationwide. Oak View's food court is still full with various restaurants like Burger King, Arby's, Subway, Sbarro, DQ/Orange Julius, etc., along with other places, of course. Also, there's a basement level that once was the arcade room Tilt, but now is a Round 1 Bowling and Amusement.

[BPHusker]

Tilt was at Westroads lower floor. The arcade at Oak View was Aladdin Castle on the north entrance next across from Champps

[mrsticka]

Oak View Mall Timeline 1, Original Timeline

-Oak View Mall opens in October 1991. It has 2 levels. Its only main anchor department stores are Dillard’s and Younker’s. It has only 2 wings, a north wing leading to Dillard’s and a west one leading to Younker’s.
-The mall has a 12-restaurant food court on the upper level. Among the vendors are Burger King, Arby’s, Manchu Wok, A&W Sbarro and Orange Julius along with others.
-JCPenney’s gets added in 1993 by the northeast end of the food court.
-Sears gets added in 1996 by the southwest end of the food court.
-In 2018, both Younker’s and Sears close.
-In March 2020, Oak View closes temporarily due to the Covid-19 pandemic. When it reopens, its largely vacant. Most of the stores that were there prior to the shutdown closed and left. Even the food court is partially abandoned.
-Because of this, Oak View’s future is uncertain.

Oak View Mall Timeline 2

-Oak View Mall still opens in October 1991. It still has 2 levels. But Dillard’s and Younkers are not its only anchor stores. JCPenney’s and Sears are, too.
-The mall has 4 wings. There's still the north wing leading to Dillard’s and the west one leading to Younkers. But now there's an east wing leading to JCPenney’s and a south one leading to Sears. Each wing is 2 levels. So with Oak View having 4 wings, it is a 4-way cross type of mall with all 4 wings meeting at one central point.
-Oak View still has a 12-restaurant food court on the upper levels. Among the vendors are Burger King, Arby’s, Manchu Wok, A&W, Sbarro and Orange Julius along with others.
-Oak View has 3 entrances into the mall. The northwest one on the first floor which is the main entrance. The southeast one behind the food court. And a southwest one between Younkers and Sears.
-Oak View has a basement level with an arcade room, Aladdin’s Castle.
-Neither Sears nor Younker's close in 2018. They're both still open today. Neither of their parent companies filed for bankruptcy.
-Oak View is not half-abandoned. It's still going pretty strong today. Both floors still have plenty of inline stores open.
-The food court is still fully open. Burger King, Arby's, Subway, Runza, Amigo's, Sbarro, The Cookie Company and DQ/Orange Julius are still in it as of today.
-Aladdin's castle in the basement still closed. But now it's a Round 1 Bowling and Amusement Center.

[Garrett]

The lack of Sarku Japan makes timeline 2 the darker timeline

[mrsticka]

Just because I didn't mention it doesn't mean it's not there.

[thejdgates]

As an employee at least 4 (gosh that is a lot) retail establishments at Village Pointe back in the day, the scenario I am about to describe might have impacted me horribly but... I wonder what would have happened to Oakview Mall if something like what happened in Lincoln with Wilderness Hills Shopping Center (planned to open originally in 2008) happened to Village Pointe as well.

Wilderness Hills was being built similarly to Village Pointe or Southpointe Pavillions, an open-air style shopping center in an up-and-coming part of town, and the initial build out was basically ready to roll... and then 2008 happened. Phase 1 build of the plaza was a ghost town. No new stores wanted to move in, and I assume several smaller businesses planning to go in with larger anchor stores stalled their arrivals as well. Brand new storefronts were completely empty for years.

I lived in Lincoln around that time and remember driving through the area of 27th and Yankee Hill and having no idea how this big of a mess could happen. Thankfully for that area, since then they have had more success, with several stores sticking around, and additional plots being developed, adding a HomeGoods/Marshalls, and several smaller retailers, but still not at (or close to) capacity.

So, If Village Pointe was instead in that same position, of being built just a few years later, and opened (or delayed opening) during the economic turmoil of 2008, I feel that Oakview might be in a position closer to Westroads at this point.

Imagine a scenario where more stores would have been incentivized to "stay put" at Oakview to stay afloat during 2008 instead of moving to an unproven location further West.

Could the "mousetrap" have been sustained longer by not losing as many mall stores or even outer ring road retailers? And could that continued income have supported capital improvements in the area, and eventually lead to a revamp to the existing mall format, a la Westroads? And could that have even stabilized or increased sales at the anchor stores, keeping them in place longer?

[mrsticka]

Open-air shopping centers may have their use in the summer. But in the winter, they can't be very popular.

[Brad]

Open-air shopping centers may have their use in the summer. But in the winter, they can't be very popular.

They seem just like any other mall. Busy as heck before Christmas and then slow in Jan and Feb, Time of year is way more important than a roof or weather.

[ChadJK]

Open-air shopping centers may have their use in the summer. But in the winter, they can't be very popular.

I always speculate that it's Hollywood. They feature those sunny SoCal outdoor shopping plazas in so many films and movies that people just get it in their head that it's a glamorous way of shopping. It doesn't occur to them that all 50 states don't have Southern California's weather. So, they're going store to store with their teeth chattering, but somehow it's so much better than an old school indoor mall. lol

[Greg S]

As an employee at least 4 (gosh that is a lot) retail establishments at Village Pointe back in the day, the scenario I am about to describe might have impacted me horribly but... I wonder what would have happened to Oakview Mall if something like what happened in Lincoln with Wilderness Hills Shopping Center (planned to open originally in 2008) happened to Village Pointe as well.

Wilderness Hills was being built similarly to Village Pointe or Southpointe Pavillions, an open-air style shopping center in an up-and-coming part of town, and the initial build out was basically ready to roll... and then 2008 happened. Phase 1 build of the plaza was a ghost town. No new stores wanted to move in, and I assume several smaller businesses planning to go in with larger anchor stores stalled their arrivals as well. Brand new storefronts were completely empty for years.

I lived in Lincoln around that time and remember driving through the area of 27th and Yankee Hill and having no idea how this big of a mess could happen. Thankfully for that area, since then they have had more success, with several stores sticking around, and additional plots being developed, adding a HomeGoods/Marshalls, and several smaller retailers, but still not at (or close to) capacity.

So, If Village Pointe was instead in that same position, of being built just a few years later, and opened (or delayed opening) during the economic turmoil of 2008, I feel that Oakview might be in a position closer to Westroads at this point.

Imagine a scenario where more stores would have been incentivized to "stay put" at Oakview to stay afloat during 2008 instead of moving to an unproven location further West.

Could the "mousetrap" have been sustained longer by not losing as many mall stores or even outer ring road retailers? And could that continued income have supported capital improvements in the area, and eventually lead to a revamp to the existing mall format, a la Westroads? And could that have even stabilized or increased sales at the anchor stores, keeping them in place longer?

It might have just delayed the inevitable. In the current time, there's no need for more than 1 mall in Omaha. Westroads just has so many more advantages over Oak View.

[mrsticka]

Open-air shopping centers may have their use in the summer. But in the winter, they can't be very popular.

I always speculate that it's Hollywood. They feature those sunny SoCal outdoor shopping plazas in so many films and movies that people just get it in their head that it's a glamorous way of shopping. It doesn't occur to them that all 50 states don't have Southern California's weather. So, they're going store to store with their teeth chattering, but somehow it's so much better than an old school indoor mall. lol

Apparently where California goes, the rest of America goes.

[Renovator2559]

Open-air shopping centers may have their use in the summer. But in the winter, they can't be very popular.

I always speculate that it's Hollywood. They feature those sunny SoCal outdoor shopping plazas in so many films and movies that people just get it in their head that it's a glamorous way of shopping. It doesn't occur to them that all 50 states don't have Southern California's weather. So, they're going store to store with their teeth chattering, but somehow it's so much better than an old school indoor mall. lol

Apparently where California goes, the rest of America goes.

I sure don't want this California trend to come to Omaha, as this local films SF, San Jose and Sacramento ...

[Louie]

God forbid someone mention california without you getting on your soap box

[legato9]

God forbid someone mention california without you getting on your soap box

Sometimes I accidentally read the first line of one of his posts.

[mrsticka]

Okay, enough about California. Let's get back to the topic at hand - Oak View Mall. In my personal opinion, having only 2 wings leading to Dillard's and Younker's wasn't enough. JCPenney's and Sears both should've had their own wings leading to them as well.

[Renovator2559]

Okay, enough about California. Let's get back to the topic at hand - Oak View Mall. In my personal opinion, having only 2 wings leading to Dillard's and Younker's wasn't enough. JCPenney's and Sears both should've had their own wings leading to them as well.

Now that I had a good laugh hearing emotional tantrums and Rees

No matter how many anchors the mall would have, the mall would still fail, as even larger malls have been failing because it's based on the flawed concept of the mall being an island surrounded by a sea of parking lots, surrounded by car congested stroads and an overall singular destination.

Not many people want to go through the hassle of being stuck in traffic and walk through parking lots as sure it may be pleasant to walk through the mall but it's not pleasant to deal with car centric aspect.

Malls were envisioned to mimick downtowns like malls; unfortunately they can't replicate the interactive and organic nature of downtown style shopping centers.

Best solution is to make suburbs more walkable and less stress like, like a few Phoenix suburbs are doing.

[Bob from Omaha]

A little before Oak View was announced another mall was proposed where Paypal (Kiewit?) is now. The race was on to see who could sign anchors and get financing. In the end Oak View won and the other mall obviously never happened. I thought at the time that the location for Oak View was inferior to the other one. Access off I-80 vs. West Center Road? If Oak View was a success wouldn't that cause a lot more traffic off Center?
Anyway, that's my recollection.

[Renovator2559]

A little before Oak View was announced another mall was proposed where Paypal (Kiewit?) is now. The race was on to see who could sign anchors and get financing. In the end Oak View won and the other mall obviously never happened. I thought at the time that the location for Oak View was inferior to the other one. Access off I-80 vs. West Center Road? If Oak View was a success wouldn't that cause a lot more traffic off Center?
Anyway, that's my recollection.

Theoretically from the car centric point of view, it may appear so, but in reality direct highway Access does not help, especially if the surrounding area is surrounded by island hotels, warehouses and the area is a pedestrian dead end.

Center road may not have been "direct highway access" but at least there were more interesting businesses and commercial nearby. Even then that area wasn't perfect either.

[Linkin5]

A little before Oak View was announced another mall was proposed where Paypal (Kiewit?) is now. The race was on to see who could sign anchors and get financing. In the end Oak View won and the other mall obviously never happened. I thought at the time that the location for Oak View was inferior to the other one. Access off I-80 vs. West Center Road? If Oak View was a success wouldn't that cause a lot more traffic off Center?
Anyway, that's my recollection.

Theoretically from the car centric point of view, it may appear so, but in reality direct highway Access does not help, especially if the surrounding area is surrounded by island hotels, warehouses and the area is a pedestrian dead end.

Center road may not have been "direct highway access" but at least there were more interesting businesses and commercial nearby. Even then that area wasn't perfect either.

I would disagree, the reason Westroads has withstood new malls and the changing retail landscape is purely due to its location off 80 and Dodge.

[Garrett]

A little before Oak View was announced another mall was proposed where Paypal (Kiewit?) is now. The race was on to see who could sign anchors and get financing. In the end Oak View won and the other mall obviously never happened. I thought at the time that the location for Oak View was inferior to the other one. Access off I-80 vs. West Center Road? If Oak View was a success wouldn't that cause a lot more traffic off Center?
Anyway, that's my recollection.

Theoretically from the car centric point of view, it may appear so, but in reality direct highway Access does not help, especially if the surrounding area is surrounded by island hotels, warehouses and the area is a pedestrian dead end.

Center road may not have been "direct highway access" but at least there were more interesting businesses and commercial nearby. Even then that area wasn't perfect either.

I would disagree, the reason Westroads has withstood new malls and the changing retail landscape is purely due to its location off 80 and Dodge.

Yep. Long term, development always follows transportation.

[ChadJK]

I would disagree, the reason Westroads has withstood new malls and the changing retail landscape is purely due to its location off 80 and Dodge.

Crossroads Mall was off of 72nd & Dodge (generally considered THE intersection in Omaha). Somehow they screwed that up.

[nebugeater]

A little before Oak View was announced another mall was proposed where Paypal (Kiewit?) is now. The race was on to see who could sign anchors and get financing. In the end Oak View won and the other mall obviously never happened. I thought at the time that the location for Oak View was inferior to the other one. Access off I-80 vs. West Center Road? If Oak View was a success wouldn't that cause a lot more traffic off Center?
Anyway, that's my recollection.

Theoretically from the car centric point of view, it may appear so, but in reality direct highway Access does not help, especially if the surrounding area is surrounded by island hotels, warehouses and the area is a pedestrian dead end.

Center road may not have been "direct highway access" but at least there were more interesting businesses and commercial nearby. Even then that area wasn't perfect either.

I would disagree, the reason Westroads has withstood new malls and the changing retail landscape is purely due to its location off 80 and Dodge.

Where do Dodge and I80 intersect? ;)

[Linkin5]

A little before Oak View was announced another mall was proposed where Paypal (Kiewit?) is now. The race was on to see who could sign anchors and get financing. In the end Oak View won and the other mall obviously never happened. I thought at the time that the location for Oak View was inferior to the other one. Access off I-80 vs. West Center Road? If Oak View was a success wouldn't that cause a lot more traffic off Center?
Anyway, that's my recollection.

Theoretically from the car centric point of view, it may appear so, but in reality direct highway Access does not help, especially if the surrounding area is surrounded by island hotels, warehouses and the area is a pedestrian dead end.

Center road may not have been "direct highway access" but at least there were more interesting businesses and commercial nearby. Even then that area wasn't perfect either.

I would disagree, the reason Westroads has withstood new malls and the changing retail landscape is purely due to its location off 80 and Dodge.

Where do Dodge and I80 intersect? ;)

I knew I forgot a 6 in there somewhere.

[Garrett]

A little before Oak View was announced another mall was proposed where Paypal (Kiewit?) is now. The race was on to see who could sign anchors and get financing. In the end Oak View won and the other mall obviously never happened. I thought at the time that the location for Oak View was inferior to the other one. Access off I-80 vs. West Center Road? If Oak View was a success wouldn't that cause a lot more traffic off Center?
Anyway, that's my recollection.

Theoretically from the car centric point of view, it may appear so, but in reality direct highway Access does not help, especially if the surrounding area is surrounded by island hotels, warehouses and the area is a pedestrian dead end.

Center road may not have been "direct highway access" but at least there were more interesting businesses and commercial nearby. Even then that area wasn't perfect either.

I would disagree, the reason Westroads has withstood new malls and the changing retail landscape is purely due to its location off 80 and Dodge.

Where do Dodge and I80 intersect? ;)

I knew I forgot a 6 in there somewhere.

6odge Street

[Renovator2559]

I would disagree, the reason Westroads has withstood new malls and the changing retail landscape is purely due to its location off 80 and Dodge.

Crossroads Mall was off of 72nd & Dodge (generally considered THE intersection in Omaha). Somehow they screwed that up.

You make a point there, as others have said it does help a bit, if upscale restaurants are nearby, and Westroads has several around it and a movie theater if I'm not mistaken.
When both the crossroads and the Westroads were both active, I remember I often went to the West roads because it felt more newer and nicer.

Still it is strange because some people see direct access to i680 a con because it tends to get congested during rush hour.

6odge Street

This was the laugh I needed, let's rename 680 to 6odge Street

[GenX]

We should rename 680 to Dix80, cuz that's how everyone drives.

[Renovator2559]

We should rename 680 to Dix80, cuz that's how everyone drives.

To be honest, Omaha drivers are "saints" compared to KC drivers. So many KC drivers we saw speeding 20mph+ over the speed, plenty of impatience; its like the official speed is 20+. Maybe because more traffic congestion and longer commute times, affects the sanity of a driver?

[Greg S]

We should rename 680 to Dix80, cuz that's how everyone drives.

To be honest, Omaha drivers are "saints" compared to KC drivers. So many KC drivers we saw speeding 20mph+ over the speed, plenty of impatience; its like the official speed is 20+. Maybe because more traffic congestion and longer commute times, affects the sanity of a driver?

Proportionately, bigger cities equal bigger driving issues. They definitely drive faster in KC than here. Chicago is incredibly crazy. Minneapolis in many areas has so much construction it's hard to maintain any kind of speed. My least favorite smaller to midsize city to drive in, is Des Moines. They never want to move over for cars merging on to interstate.

[Renovator2559]

Proportionately, bigger cities equal bigger driving issues. They definitely drive faster in KC than here. Chicago is incredibly crazy. Minneapolis in many areas has so much construction it's hard to maintain any kind of speed. My least favorite smaller to midsize city to drive in, is Des Moines. They never want to move over for cars merging on to interstate.

I see the same observations. Florida drivers are insane and will disregard traffic signals and will turn through incoming traffic and other maneuvers. Tulsa is comparitively to Omaha, due to their traffic being good.

Des Moines traffic tends to be worse than Omaha even though smaller, many choke points, so I'm not surprised how drivers behave in there.

On the times I go to DC, I don't notice as much reckless driving in there and the DMV is a large metro. In fact there's a higher emphasis on pedestrians and drivers are tolled. Traffic is bad during rush but not as bad as other places.

[mrsticka]

Try Seattle traffic. I-5 and I-405 are usually pretty bad.

[Coyote]

Omaha Everyday: B&B Theaters

[mrsticka]

Merle Hay Mall in Des Moines seems to have fallen on hard times, too.

[Coyote]

KETV Exclusive:
Oak View Mall under new ownership with entertainment in mind



Oak View Mall is under new ownership after hitting the market in late October. Felix Reznick, 4th Dimension Property principal, can't disclose what he paid for the asset he used to co-own with Kohan Retail Investment Group. The new mall owner is sharing his approach to change the perception of retail malls.

[Busguy2010]

I... Uh... Well... That didn't sound too inspiring.

[Garrett]

Sticky is the word he chose to use? Sticky?

Also, that was a bizarre interview overall. Having the reporter just hold his laptop standing in the parking lot for a zoom call? A bit silly, but also where the heck was the guy even?

If as inventive as they’re gonna get is mini golf, yikes.

[Dusty]

Sticky is the word he chose to use? Sticky?

Also, that was a bizarre interview overall. Having the reporter just hold his laptop standing in the parking lot for a zoom call? A bit silly, but also where the heck was the guy even?

If as inventive as they’re gonna get is mini golf, yikes.

LOL! I was thinking the same thing. Sticky?

For some reason a vison came into my head of walking into the mall and having a bucket of slime dumped on my head.
Wow, this place is so sticky!

[djc311]

Sounds like it could be a spin off of the new Club 180 on 180th & Q St... Sticky & Entertainment.

[almighty_tuna]

That's a LOT of square footage to fill for entertaining "parents, nannies, and children." With B&B and its bowling alley right there, a big space-taking entertainment option is out the window. Good luck to him I guess. I expect Oakview to be back on the market in a couple years.

[BRoss]

Kid-centric and sticky? Sounds gross.