Palm Beach Outlets

Palm Beach Mall early years

When the mall originally opened on October 26, 1967, it was touted by its developer, the Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation, as the largest mall in the Southeastern United States. The founding anchors included J.C. Penney's, which moved from its historic store downtown on Clematis Street about three miles (5 km) southeast, Jordan Marsh and Richards. By the end of the decade, the mall also featured Walgreens, Lerner Shops, Food Fair, Woolworth, and The Mall Cinema 1-2-3-4 quadraplex.

The Palm Beach Mall was expanded and renovated in 1980, in conjunction with the addition of Burdines (which also previously had a presence downtown) sporting a parking garage and Lord & Taylor. Also in 1980 Sears moved into the space previously occupied by Richards, which had closed the same year following a statewide liquidation. The shopping mall's terrazzo floor was replaced with tiles at this time.

Furthermore, when Pantry Pride (formerly Food Fair) closed in 1987, a food court called Treats was developed from its space. Design features popular in the 1980s, including skylights and a lofty ceiling, were introduced to the Mall at this time.

The 2000 renovation replaced most of the mall's interior fixtures, redesigned the food court (this time calling it "Sea Side Café), and replaced the Wonderfall in center court with a much more modern fountain sporting a seahorse theme.

Palm Beach Mall's Decline

On May 1, 1999, Nicholas Megrath, an 18-year-old manager at the Chick-fil-A restaurant then located in the mall's Treats food court was murdered execution-style by Jessie Miller Jr. Investigators said Miller entered the store, gagged and bound Megrath to a chair with duct tape and unsuccessfully attempted to open the store's safe. Investigators claimed that then Miller became frustrated and fired a bullet into the 18-year-old's temple. Miller and his gang fled the scene with about $500 in cash. Miller was sentenced to life without parole in 2009. Miller was granted another trial and found not guilty on June 30, 2014.

The mall faced stiff competition after the turn of the century with CityPlace opening in downtown in 2000, and The Mall at Wellington Green opening up in 2001 in nearby Wellington. The mall also had to contend against increasing crime rates in the mall's surrounding area. Stores ran on shorter leases, and more left the mall entirely due to decreasing traffic. To bring business back to the mall, plans were devised but never executed to redevelop the property into mixed-use development; one proposal was a 290,000-square-foot (0.027 km²) IKEA. In addition to this 700,000 square feet (0.065 km²) of retail, 300,000 square feet (0.028 km²) office space, and 500 residential units were considered.

Owing to the decline of business at the mall, Dillard's abruptly closed on October 31, 2008. Macy's announced as of January 8, 2009 that its Palm Beach Mall location would close due to under-par performance. On March 9, 2009, the mall started opening during reduced hours to mitigate the effect of lower foot traffic.

On April 14, 2009, banking firm JPMorgan Chase filed for a foreclosure suit against Simon for failure to repay a $55.4 million loan used on the shopping center. The proposed foreclosure sought the sale of the mall to satisfy the mortgage. As of July 2009, Washington-based Madison Marquette was temporarily operating the mall by a circuit court judge's decision.

David Simon, CEO of Simon Property Group, claimed in July 2009 that the mall would remain open in its present form and that his company would continue being dedicated to making the aging mall a viable place to shop.

In the first week of November 2009 J.C. Penney closed off its entrance to the mall. The reason was that the store continued to see heavy use but the air-conditioning in the respective wing of the mall had been turned off due to vacancies. Sears closed on January 17, 2010, announcing liquidation sales to start November 19 of the preceding year.

Closure and redevelopment

On December 5, 2009, the mall's court-appointed receiver announced that the Palm Beach Mall would officially close on January 31, 2010 with the exception of J. C. Penney, George's Music and Firestone, which have outdoor entrances. Upon foreclosure under Simon ownership, Orix seized ownership of the Mall in December 2009, and along with the City of West Palm Beach, was looking into luring IKEA and Bass Pro Shops to occupy the site. The mall was eventually acquired by New England Development transforming the Palm Beach Mall into Palm Beach Outlets, an open-air outlet mall beside a strip of big box stores. The mall was developed on the 80-acre property by New England Development, Eastern Real Estate and Lubert-Adler. It was announced in February 2013 that Whole Foods Market would open in its own facility towards the southwest end of the mall property, next to the Palm Beach Lakes/I-95 interchange.

George's Music relocated to nearby Rivera Beach, closing their mall location on June 30, 2012, intending to return with the opening of Palm Beach Outlets, however, no official plans were announced. JC Penney and Firestone were planned to be included in the Palm Beach Outlets with their original buildings, but due to company downsizing, closed the location on May 1, 2013.

Palm Beach Outlets opened on February 14, 2014. The mall includes a Saks Fifth Avenue Off Fifth outlet store as an anchor.

Current anchors

Former anchors (Palm Beach Mall)