The Citadel (mall)

The Citadel is a shopping mall in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. Opened in 1972, it features JCPenney, Dillard's, and Burlington as its anchor stores. The mall is owned and managed by Namdar Realty Group.

History

Construction on the Citadel Mall began in 1970, and it opened on March 1, 1972, anchored by a JCPenney and Denver Dry Goods store, and included a two screen movie theater. The original mall consisted of 2 levels and 594,800 square feet of leasable space.

By 1980, The Rouse Company owned the mall. In 1984, the mall was expanded westward with a two level extension which included a third anchor store, May-Daniels & Fisher aka May D&F, and the creation of a two level food court. The mall's last expansion occurred in 1995 with the opening of a three level Dillard's at the end of the western extension.

In 1997, it was sold to The Macerich Company, a company based in California. In January 2007, the mall was sold to Midwest Mall Properties, a private investor group, which retained Macerich as management company.

Although many stores surround the actual mall, the entire campus is located at the intersection of Platte and Academy. When the mall originally opened it was on the eastern edge of the city.

From November 18 thru December 25, 2005, for the 50th anniversary of the NORAD Tracks Santa program, the Citadel Mall had a massive Santa Tracking Village that included a 25-foot tree, a tracking map and viewfinder where visitors could watch a NORAD Tracks Santa video, hear audio messages of peace from children around the world, and receive a 24-page coloring book with Santa's assistants wearing NORAD patches.

In February 2006, Mervyn's closed 10 out of its 11 stores in Colorado, including the one at the Citadel, which was 99,751 sq ft (9,267.2 m²). on two levels. In September, 2006, the Foley's store at the mall was rebranded Macy's, in accordance with a national renaming. Steve & Barry's closed their store in 2008 after bankruptcy, and Macy's closed their store at the Citadel in August 2014 due to poor sales.

In 2015, Dillard's was downgraded to a clearance center closing the upper two floors.

In 2020, JCPenney was put up for sale but remains open.

Shooting Incidents

Since January 2016, at least 23 people have been shot in the immediate vicinity of The Citadel. Four people have died from gunshot wounds at the mall since March 2022. These incidents have led to locals referring to the mall as The Shootadel.

References