Sunvalley Shopping Center, or more popularly Sunvalley Mall, is a regional shopping center located in Concord, California (one of the suburbs in the San Francisco Bay Area, in east central Contra Costa County). Located off Interstate 680, Sunvalley is owned and operated by the Taubman Company and is anchored by Macy's, JCPenney, and Sears. The total square footage of the mall is 1.333 million square feet.
History[]
At the time of its construction, Sunvalley Shopping Center was said to be the largest air-conditioned regional shopping center in the world. Developed by A. Alfred Taubman, the shopping center opened on August 5, 1967 with a performance by Tony Martin and is 1.333 million square feet on two floors. In the Mall's early days it had 40 vendors including four anchor stores (now three), a 233,000-square-foot Macy's, an Emproium Capwell's (Became Macy's Men's/Home/Cellar/Backstage), a Sears, and a 216,000-square-foot JCPenney on three floors; a World's Fare food court made up of international restaurants but also including staples like donuts and Kentucky Fried Chicken; stores including a piano-organ stores, an art gallery, and a pet shop; a post office; an ice skating rink; cages of rare birds; and water fountains in numerous locations. The SunValley Cinema had 1,500 seats and the parking lot had 9,000 spaces.
On December 23, 1985, a twin-engine light plane crashed into the mall after missing its initial landing attempt at nearby Buchanan Field. Seven people died, including three on the plane, and seventy-seven were injured. The accident caused $3.5 million in damages to the mall.
In 1991, the Center completed a two-year $40 million renovation which included installing 198 skylights, Italian marble walkways and chrome and glass railings.
In 2012, Sunvalley Shopping Center completed a multimillion-dollar renovation that included new mall entrances with illuminated signage, seating and landscaping. Parking amenities were also enhanced with energy-efficient LED lighting on the upper east parking deck, new exterior directional signage and landscaping. Inside the center, Grand Court was completely renovated with the addition of Wi-fi, device charging, and a full-service customer service desk. The amount of seating throughout the center was doubled and new faux landscaping was installed.
In 2016, the mall opened a new Food Court containing restaurants such as Chicken Connection, Charley's Philly Steaks, and Lotus Express, and Round 1 opened in the former Sports Authority space.