PHOENIX — More than 50 years after it first opened and more than four years after it closed, Metrocenter Mall will soon be torn down, as demolition permits have been issued by the City of Phoenix.
According to the City of Phoenix's permit search, demolition permits have been issued to Resource Environmental, Inc., a demolition contractor based in Cerritos, California.
The permits were issued for three addresses: 9801 North Metro Parkway East (the former UHaul building), 9813 North Metro Parkway East (the former Dillard's building), and 9617 North Metro Parkway East (Metrocenter Mall).
Each permit is for the total demolition of one building. They were issued by the City of Phoenix on Sept. 5 and will expire on Nov. 19, meaning the demolition must be completed by that date. However, the exact day that the demolition will take place has not been announced.
A City of Phoenix spokesperson said in the May that the demolition was expected to take place this fall.
Metrocenter Mall first opened in 1973 as the first two-story mall in Arizona. It had five department stores and was even the first mall to host a movie indoors.
The mall closed for good in 2020 due to the pandemic after spending 47 years as a landmark in the Valley near Interstate 17 and Peoria Avenue. The mall's final day being open was June 30, 2020.
In November 2022, the Phoenix City Council voted to allow a developer, Concord Wilshire Capital and TLG Investment Partners, to spend $850 million to replace the mall with a walkable village. Designs for the village that include 2,600 multifamily homes and 150,000 square fee of commercial, retail and restaurant space were released at that time.
Demolition of the mall was originally supposed to take place during the summer of 2023, but the City of Phoenix told 12News that more environmental and remediation work needed to be done before the mall could be knocked down.
The City of Phoenix is planning for the new development to open in phases with the first phase scheduled to open in 2026.
The mall was famously featured, along with a Circle K store in Tempe that closed in 2022, in the hit film 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.'
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