First Colony Mall facts for kids
Sign at I-69/US 59 freeway entrance
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| Location | Sugar Land, Texas, United States |
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| Coordinates | 29°35′29″N 95°37′32″W / 29.5914°N 95.6256°W |
| Address | 16535 Southwest Freeway |
| Opening date | March 14, 1996 |
| Developer | Hines Interests Limited Partnership |
| Management | Brookfield Properties Retail Group |
| Owner | Brookfield Properties Retail Group |
| No. of stores and services | 150 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 5 |
| Total retail floor area | 1,110,000 sq ft (103,000 m2). |
| No. of floors | 1 (2 in anchors and Dillard's parking garage, 3 in Macy's parking garage) |
| Parking | 4,700 spaces |
First Colony Mall is a big shopping center in Sugar Land, Texas. It's about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Houston. You can find it near where Interstate 69/U.S. Route 59 meets State Highway 6. The mall first opened on March 14, 1996, and got bigger with an expansion in 2006.
Brookfield Properties Retail Group owns First Colony Mall. Its main stores, called 'anchor stores,' are Macy's, JCPenney, Dick's Sporting Goods, and two Dillard's stores. There's also a huge AMC Theatres movie theater with 24 screens right outside the mall.
Contents
History of First Colony Mall
First Colony Mall was planned to be a very important part of the First Colony community. Before it opened, people in Fort Bend County often traveled to other malls like Sharpstown Mall or West Oaks Mall to shop.
Building the mall was delayed for a few years. This was because Houston's economy was struggling in the 1980s. There was also another mall planned nearby in New Territory. But eventually, the First Colony Mall plan went ahead.
Opening Day and Early Years
First Colony Mall opened on March 14, 1996. It was the first big shopping mall in Fort Bend County. Hines Interests Limited Partnership and a part of Royal Dutch Shell first developed it.
The mall was built with one main level. It was designed to be "family-friendly" with soft carpeted walkways and skylights. The first main stores were Foley's, Dillard's, JCPenney, and Mervyn's. There were also over 100 other stores and a food court called the Sugar Land Cafes.
When First Colony Mall opened, it changed shopping habits in the area. Some older malls, like Westwood Mall, closed down. West Oaks Mall also saw fewer customers from Sugar Land.
Tornado Damage in 1998
On February 16, 1998, a tornado hit the mall. It damaged the southwest corner of the Dillard's store, causing a wall to fall. Water also got inside the store. The tornado also damaged a wall at the JCPenney store and part of the mall's roof. Luckily, no one was hurt, even though many people were shopping that day.
In 2002, General Growth Properties bought First Colony Mall. They had already been managing it since 1999.
2006 Expansion and New Stores
As the Sugar Land area grew, First Colony Mall started adding more upscale stores. These included places like Williams Sonoma and Hollister Co..
In 2005, one of the main stores, Mervyn's, closed. At the same time, the mall started a big expansion. They added an open-air "lifestyle" wing in front of the main entrance. This new area included a Barnes & Noble bookstore and restaurants like The Cheesecake Factory and Grimaldi's Pizzeria. This expansion also brought in more fancy stores, including a new Apple Store.
Because the new wing took up parking space, new parking garages were built. These were placed in front of the Dillard's and Foley's stores. This helped with parking problems.
Soon after the expansion, another big change happened. Foley's became Macy's in September 2006. This was because Federated Department Stores bought Foley's parent company. Dillard's also took over the old Mervyn's spot, selling men's clothing and home goods.
By 2014, the mall had over 140 stores. It offered a mix of regular mall shops and more high-end stores. This showed how well the area around the mall was doing.
The area around the mall has also grown. It now includes Sugar Land Town Square, many other large stores, and a Houston Methodist Hospital campus. The 24-screen AMC Theatres cinema also shows a wide variety of movies.
On November 30, 2015, Dick's Sporting Goods announced they would build a new store at the mall. It opened in October 2016. This store is next to where the food court used to be outside. Other new restaurants like Texas de Brazil and Dimassi's Mediterranean Buffet have also opened since then.
