West End Plaza is a shopping mall in Salisbury, North Carolina. It is owned by Rowan County, North Carolina.

Built starting in 1986 at Jake Alexander Boulevard and Statesville Boulevard, Salisbury Mall appeared to be in a good place. However, critics said the mall should have been built closer to Interstate 85. In August 2013, J. C. Penney, an original anchor, closed its store, and Belk moved to another shopping center later that year. Big Lots had already moved to a new location, and much of the mall was empty.[1]

Rowan County bought Salisbury Mall in December 2013 for $3.4 million[2] because of a need for additional office space. The mall was renamed West End Plaza.[3]

By September 2014, with other stores in the mall closing, Books-A-Million closed.[4]

A 2015 master plan called for moving social services and the health department into the former mall, and the sheriff and probation into their former space. Other possibilities were the library's history and genealogy room, and planning, building inspections and environmental departments. A conference center was also considered. The former J.C. Penney was used for events.[3]

As of September 2017, the Board of Elections and Veterans Services had moved into West End Plaza. Renovating the former Penney's proved to be too expensive.[5]

On July 1, 2019, Rowan County commissioners considered an $18.93 million plan by ADW Architects to improve the mall. This included $2.9 million to renovate a section of the mall for an agriculture center, $7.6 million for an events space, $5.1 million for exterior renovations and parking improvements, and $3.2 million for additional exterior work and traffic-related improvements such as roundabouts.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Some wonder if mall can survive loss of J.C. Penney, Belk". Salisbury Post. August 1, 2013.
  2. ↑ "New name: County chooses West End Plaza as mall title". Salisbury Post. January 7, 2014.
  3. 1 2 Bergeron, Josh (January 11, 2016). "Social Services, Health next to move to West End Plaza?". Salisbury Post. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  4. ↑ Shinn, Susan (August 7, 2014). "Books-A-Million at West End Plaza will close by Sept. 30". Salisbury Post. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  5. ↑ Bergeron, Josh (September 6, 2017). "County abandons proposal to renovate West End Plaza events space". Salisbury Post. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  6. ↑ Motley, Samuel (July 2, 2019). "County considers $18.93 million West End Plaza proposal". Salisbury Post. Retrieved July 28, 2019.

35°41′32″N 80°30′54″W / 35.6921°N 80.5149°W / 35.6921; -80.5149

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