Copley Place facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Copley Place
Interior of the mall concourse, since renovated (2007)
General information
Status	Open
Type	Mixed-use shopping mall hotel office
Location	100 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Coordinates	42°20′51″N 71°04′45″W / 42.347363°N 71.079079°W / 42.347363; -71.079079
Groundbreaking	November 3, 1980; 44 years ago (1980-11-03)
Opened	1984; 41 years ago (1984)
Cost	US$400 million
Owner	Simon Property Group
Management	Simon Property Group
Technical details
Floor count	2 (shopping mall) 3 (Neiman Marcus)
Floor area	Shopping mall: 385,000 square feet (35,800 m2) Office space: 800,000 square feet (74,000 m2)
Grounds	9.5 acres (38,000 m2)
Design and construction
Architect	Howard Elkus
Architecture firm	The Architects' Collaborative
Developer	Kenneth Himmel
Renovating team
Renovating firm	Elkus Manfredi Architects
Other information
Number of stores	80
Number of anchors	2

Copley Place is a big, exciting building complex in Boston, Massachusetts. It's a special place because it has many different things all in one spot! You can find shops, hotels, and offices here. It's located in a part of Boston called Back Bay.

Construction on Copley Place began in 1980 and finished in 1984. It was built right over the Massachusetts Turnpike, which is a major highway. This means it uses "air rights," building in the space above the highway. The Simon Property Group owns and manages this huge complex.

Copley Place is also connected to other cool places nearby. These include the Prudential Center complex, the Sheraton Boston Hotel, and the Back Bay station, where you can catch trains. The shopping mall has two main "anchor" stores: Neiman Marcus and a Saks Fifth Avenue men's store.

In 2019, a news website called MassLive ranked Copley Place as one of the best shopping centers in Massachusetts. It was rated fourth, right after the nearby Prudential Center.

What is Copley Place?

Copley Place is a two-level indoor mall famous for its fancy fashion stores. You can find brands like Ralph Lauren, Dior, Michael Kors, Tiffany & Co., Louis Vuitton, and Gucci here. Above the mall, on the third level, there's a lobby that leads to four office towers.

Connecting to Other Places

Copley Place is super connected! You can walk directly to the Prudential Center shopping mall using a special bridge over Huntington Avenue. There's another bridge that connects to the Westin at Copley Place hotel.

One end of Copley Place has a Marriott hotel, and the other end has the Neiman Marcus department store. You can also reach the Back Bay train station through an underground tunnel. This tunnel goes under Dartmouth Street.

How Copley Place Was Built

Copley Place was a very big project for Boston. It was the city's largest "mixed-use" development at the time. This means it combined different types of buildings like shops, hotels, and offices.

Building Over the Highway

The complex was built in 1983 right over the Massachusetts Turnpike and some highway ramps. Before Copley Place, this spot was home to the South End Armory, a large building from 1890. The Armory was taken down to make way for the highway. Building Copley Place over the highway was a clever way to use the space.

Plans for More Buildings

In 2011, there were plans to add more shops and expand the Neiman Marcus store. There were also ideas for a very tall, 52-story luxury apartment building. However, by 2016, these plans were put on hold. The owners decided to wait because building costs were going up, and there were many other new luxury buildings being built in Boston.

What's Inside?

Copley Place has several tall buildings. These include four office towers and two hotels.

The Shopping Mall Experience

Since it opened, the mall has been known for its high-end, luxury stores. Over the years, some stores have changed. For example, a large bookstore used to be there, but it closed before 2000. Today, most of the stores sell fashionable clothes, shoes, or accessories.

The mall also used to have a movie theater called Loews Copley Place Cinemas. It closed in 2005. Later, a men's clothing store called Barneys New York took its place. In 2020, Barneys New York closed, and a new Saks Fifth Avenue Men's Store opened there.

When Copley Place first opened, it had a huge, 60-foot-tall fountain in the middle. This artwork was made of granite and marble, with a waterfall. People loved to sit by it. However, the fountain was removed around 2017 during a renovation.

Important Businesses Here

Copley Place is home to many different businesses. Here are some of the main ones:

Images for kids

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  Centerpiece sculptural fountain by Dimitri Hadzi (1984). The waterfall was shut off in 2012, and the artwork was removed a few years later.

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  The four Copley Place office towers are the irregular shapes in the upper left of this aerial view

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  In this view centered on Copley Square, the Westin Copley Place hotel is the tower in the right foreground

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  The Westin Copley Place hotel connects via skybridge to the mall at the far right

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  Copley Place mall is located at the lower right of this view

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  A Neiman Marcus store is the exterior visible anchor tenant at one end of the mall

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  The Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel anchors the other end of the enclosed mall

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  This skybridge connects Copley Place (at right) to the Prudential Center

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  This glassblock-lined underground corridor connects Copley Place to Back Bay station