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 Going to the movies at Foothills Mall will require going inside the mall, starting in March.
Parking lot access to Foothills 15 Cinemas will close for good at that time.
The owners of the mall, at 7325 N. La Cholla Blvd., and theaters agreed Friday to bring stadium seating to all the theaters in return for a new lobby and widened entryway to the theater complex inside the mall.
"The vast bulk of people going to the movies are not coming into the mall," said Larry Feldman, chief executive of Feldman Equities Inc., which acquired the mall in April 2002. "People don't even know there's a mall there. They will now travel through the mall."
The move should substantially increase revenue for mall merchants, Feldman said.
The theater changes are among significant moves made at the mall in the year that Feldman Equities has owned it.
The Feldman team has found tenants for five of the six undeveloped pads detached from the mall. The final pad may have a buyer by the end of the International Council of Shopping Centers conference this week in Las Vegas.
The theater work, set to start in July, will be combined with a new mall entrance and a new, 10,000-square-foot store for Famous Footwear, both next to a Barnes & Noble bookstore.
The theater will remain open during construction.
"This is a major milestone in what is $10 million worth of improvements going into the mall," Feldman said in a telephone interview from Las Vegas.
Pad development adds $3 million. Construction has started on a Thomasville Home Furnishings store, and work is set to start soon on Compass Bank and Arizona Central Credit Union branches.
Feldman Equities and Paul Ash Management Co., which jointly own the mall, will develop one pad, which will house Starbucks, Chipotle Mexican Grill, One-Hour Martinizing and Baskin-Robbins.
"We're delighted with the acquisition (of Foothills Mall)," Feldman said. "We're in the third inning of what will be a fantastic turnaround. When this mall was built, it was way ahead of its time. This location now is getting filled in (with housing)."
Feldman had no problem finding business for a mall that had undeveloped pads since opening in 1982.
"The pad demand we knew was high, but we were flabbergasted at how voracious the demand was," he said. "Five pads have been sold in the last year at prices far exceeding our original projections."
In all, the mall property is adding 45,000 square feet of floor space to the 482,351-square-foot retail and entertainment center.
"The rapid development of five of the six available pad sites at the Foothills Mall confirms our belief that discount retail malls such as Foothills will continue to be successful even in a soft economy," Feldman said.
MALL REDEFINED
Foothills Mall has seen many changes since Feldman Equities Inc. and Paul Ash Management Co. bought the discount retailer center in April 2002.
- Crescent Jewelers leased 2,000 square feet.
- Just Sports has leased 2,000 square feet.
- Sports Buzz has leased 1,400 square feet.
- The Melting Pot Restaurant has leased 5,000 square feet.
- Mrs. Fields Bakery with TCBY and Pretzel Maker has leased 1,100 square feet.
- Styles for Less has leased 5,000 square feet.
- As Seen on Screen (As Seen on TV) has leased about 500 square feet.
- Famous Footwear is expanding, moving from its original store with 5,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet in a new location.
Pads around the mall:
- Fox and Hound Smokehouse & Tavern opened in November.
- Thomasville Home Furnishings is under construction.
- Compass Bank will start construction in the summer.
- Arizona Central Credit Union will start construction soon.
- Starbucks, Baskin-Robbins, One-Hour Martinizing and Chipotle Mexican Grill will share a building.
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