Re-opening Tanforan

Tanforan Park, our local shopping mall, closed for renovations in 2003, immediately following the 2002 holiday shopping season. (The original plan had apparently called for closing before Christmas; dumb!).

The mall was 30 years old and had slowly been declining. We liked it, but we could see that some of the stores had closed and not been replaced. It was bringing in less money... and, apparently, the new owners thought it looked like it was built in the early 70's (which, of course, it was.)

The renovations were extensive. "While the anchor [stores] remained standing and operating over the last 2 1/2 years, the mall connecting them was torn down and rebuilt, with a redesign that offers glass-covered entries and a more visible presence on El Camino Real."

It's been interesting to drive past over the intervening time and watch the progress, especially as things really started getting interesting on the outside.

Talk about your "visible presence"! There's a two-storey glass section that looks like the prow of a ship! That's next to the brick tower of the new Barnes and Noble bookstore (cool; a big bookstore so close... is this good or bad? ;-)

The center faces a brand new, widened, multi-way intersection on El Camino Real. The intersection has a new traffic signal (sorely needed at that exit in "the old days") and access to "The Crossing" — a mammoth, multi-acre complex with retail spaces, 300 apartment units, a 500-room hotel, and senior housing, — on the other side.

The new Shops at Tanforan opened yesterday morning to much hoopla. We drove by last night after dinner, around 8:00 pm.... and kept driving right on by (and then home).

There was a line of about 30 cars waiting to get into the parking lot from north-bound El Camino Real. There was another line of cars the same length waiting at the light on the south-bound side. From what we could see, the parking lot was packed. Wow.

I can only hope some of the people were buying, not just gawking. We'll go down in a week or two, after the initial novelty has worn off.

Re-opening Tanforan ( in category In The News ) - posted at Sat, 08 Oct, 11:38 Pacific | «e»