The Loop (shopping center)
Total retail floor area 500,406 square feet (46,489.2 m2) (Methuen Mall)[1]304,000 square feet (28,200 m2) (The Loop) | | |
No. of floors | 1 |
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The Loop, formerly Methuen Mall, is a shopping mall in
History
In July 1972,
In 1982, Filene's Basement opened a 25,000-square-foot (2,300 m2) store as the mall's third anchor.[8] Sold to JMB Realty after development, the mall was sold again to MetLife in 1984 along with a Caldor-anchored strip mall adjacent to Methuen Mall, and Auburn Mall in Auburn, Massachusetts.[9]
1990s
In 1990, New England Development announced the development of The Mall at Rockingham Park across the state line in Salem, New Hampshire.[10] Shortly before the opening of the Rockingham Park mall, the Methuen Mall had a vacancy rate of four percent.[11] The building of the Rockingham Park mall posed major challenges for the Methuen Mall, due in part to New Hampshire's lack of sales tax.[12][13][14] As the Rockingham Park mall would also contain a Sears among its anchor stores, MetLife representatives stated that they were unsure if Sears would shutter its Methuen store upon opening of the Salem location, but also felt that they would be able to secure a new tenant should the Sears close.[10] By 1992, both Sears and Filene's Basement had moved to Mall at Rockingham Park.[15]
Ann & Hope moved into the former Sears location in 1993. This store closed in 1995 along with Jordan Marsh, leaving the mall without an anchor.[16] As of 1996, the mall had lost more than a quarter of its 65 tenants.[12] When the only nearby convention center closed, the mall attempted a novel strategy to attract customers, opening an expo center in the former Ann & Hope.[17][18][19][20] The center's first event was an all-night rave.
Nonetheless, business continued to diminish at the mall until the only remaining tenant was an Applebee's restaurant.[21] When new developers attempted to evict the Applebee's, it refused.[21] The developers then demolished the rest of the mall around the restaurant. Eventually, it lost a long court battle and vacated the property.[21][22]
Demolition and redevelopment
When the Methuen Mall finally closed, the city of Methuen took a huge financial hit, seeing property tax revenue fall from US$60 million annually to US$18 million annually for the site alone.[23] In 2000, the land was redeveloped by a joint venture between The Brickstone Companies and The Wilder Companies of Boston into a new project called The Loop.[24] The new, non-enclosed shopping center has no real anchor stores, but contains a Home Depot, AMC Theatres, and Marshalls, as well as about twenty smaller businesses, including Pearle Vision, a store that was in the original Methuen Mall.
The Stop & Shop at the Loop closed in February 2020. Being replaced with two stores, One Stop Liquor, and BioLife.[25]
The Loop is owned and managed by Charter Realty.[26]
References
- ^ Directory of major malls. MJJTM Publications Corp. 1990. p. 311.
- Boston Globe. July 2, 1972. pp. A9. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
- ^ "Sutherland's fights fleeting time".
- ^ "New Sears opens in Methuen Sept. 4". The Lowell Sun. August 26, 1973. pp. E4. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
- ^ "Opening scheduled for new Howland department store". The Lowell Sun. September 4, 1973. p. 16. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
- ^ "Methuen Mall opens Nov. 5". The Lowell Sun. November 5, 1973. p. 2. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
- ^ "Jordan Marsh opening twelfth in chain of stores at Methuen Mall". The Lowell Sun. July 17, 1977. pp. E5. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
- ^ "Filene's to open new basement store". The Boston Globe. October 9, 1982. p. 21. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
- ^ "Insurer buys 3 Mass. malls". Boston Globe. June 8, 1984. p. 37. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
- ^ a b "Mass. woes moving experience for some firms to NH". Boston Globe. August 5, 1990. pp. NH7. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
- Boston Globe. June 16, 1991.
- ^ Boston Globe.
- Boston Globe.
- ^ Meyers, Jack (April 4, 1994). "Northern Mass. pols again seek sales-tax exemptions". Boston Herald.
- ^ "More shoppers at the stores, but spending levels unclear". Boston Globe. December 6, 1992. pp. 1, 7. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
- ^ "Methuen Mall loses last anchor store". The Boston Globe. November 5, 1995. p. 9. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ Davis Bushnell (March 17, 1996). "Valley Expo Center is new hope for Methuen Mall". The Boston Globe. p. 6. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ Perkins, Anita (February 28, 1996). "An experiment worth watching". The Eagle-Tribune.
- Boston Globe.
- Boston Globe.
- ^ a b c Applebee's Northeast v. Methuen Investors, 709 N.E.2d 1143 (Mass. App. Ct. 1999).
- ^ Van Voorhis, Scott (June 11, 1999). "Applebee's restaurant ruling clears way for Methuen Mall makeover". Boston Business Journal. Vol. 19, no. 18.
- Boston Globe. Archived from the originalon March 12, 2007.
- Boston Globe.
- Eagle-Tribune.
- ^ "The Loop".
External links
- Official site of The Loop