Town Center at Boca Raton (also known as Town Center Mall or Boca Town Center) is an upscale shopping mall in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. Its anchor stores are Bloomingdale's, Palm Beach County's only two-story Forever 21, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, and Saks Fifth Avenue, with one vacant anchor space last occupied by Sears. It is the largest enclosed and conventional shopping mall in Palm Beach County, and the third largest by square feet in South Florida, behind both Sawgrass Mills in Broward County and Aventura Mall in Miami-Dade County. While most malls across the country are struggling, this mall and Baybrook Mall have thrived in recent years.
History
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Town Center at Boca Raton was first conceived and built in 1980 with Burdines, Sears, and Jordan Marsh, just like Broward Mall two years before. A T.G.I. Friday's (closed and demolished in 2005) and later an L&N Seafood Grill (then Stir Crazy) were located adjacent to the main entrance west of Burdines and east of Sears.
The shopping center featured a New York City theme with a round black station clock, living vegetation below a series of atriums, and several distinctive wishing fountains when it opened.
A significant expansion near the end of the decade brought more shops, including three new anchors â€" a three-story Bloomingdale's, whose store at the mall was the second in Florida, and a Saks Fifth Avenue, which moved into the space provided when the building housing Mervyns. Lord & Taylor had also entered southern Palm Beach County, erecting a new store at the center court. In 2002, Lord & Taylor closed as part of their early 2000s restructuring, and was promptly demolished. In 2005, Neiman Marcus, who expressed interest in entering the area market as early as 1987, opened their newly built store on the site of Lord & Taylor after it closed in 2002 during statewide liquidation. Also in 2005, Fridays had closed, having another nearby presence, and was demolished from the shopping center. The Cheesecake Factory opened an experimental restaurant called Grand Lux Cafe on the site, featuring a broader choice of international cuisine.
Between 1999 and 2000, a complete renovation took place. The mall built a new concourse within Florida's first Nordstrom store. The food court's seating was reconfigured to accommodate more people, and a Waldenbooks (which closed in 2010) opened on its southern side. Mall entrances were remodeled with sun canopies and decorative towers to add exterior appeal. Parking layouts were rearranged to allow a three-story parking garage at the future Nordstrom, and a two-story garage at the recently refurbished Burdines (now Macy's).
On January 4, 2018, Sears announced that its Boca Raton location would be among the 103 that the company plans to shut down nationwide, making it the mall's last original anchor to close. The store closed in April 2018 and will soon be redeveloped.
The Terrace at Town Center, a lifestyle center addition, has recently been completed. The mixed-use development is in between Bloomingdale's and the Nordstrom parking garage.
2007 murders
In 2007, several murders at the mall drew national attention. In March, a 52-year-old woman was kidnapped and murdered. In December, a 47-year-old woman and her 7-year-old daughter were also kidnapped, and later found bound and shot in the head in the woman's SUV in the mall parking lot. This case was featured on America's Most Wanted and caused host John Walsh to say he believed a serial killer to be in the city. Though there is no forensic evidence to suggest the murders were committed by the same person, the similarities in the cases led police to believe they were related. In addition, a similar incident occurred at the mall in August, in which a woman and her 2-year-old son were kidnapped and tied found in the car, but left alive. To this day, the murders all remain unsolved.
References
External links
- Town Center at Boca Raton official website
- Original mall stores and floor plan
