Bloomingdale's to Open in Glendale Galleria in 2013
A 120,000-square-foot Bloomingdale’s will be built at the Glendale Galleria shopping center, with construction starting next year.#8232;
The luxury department store, which will be built on the site of a former Mervyns store, will be open for business in fall 2013.#8232;
The store is expected to employ more than 175 people, said Michael Gould, Bloomingdale’s chief executive. Bloomingdale’s is a division of Macy’s Inc.
The arrival of Bloomingdale’s is part of a campaign to renovate the 35-year-old mall in Glendale, Calif. The mall is owned by General Growth Properties Inc., the second-largest owner of shopping malls in America.
Larry Martin, senior general manager of the Glendale Galleria, said GGP will be making a significant investment in the Galleria’s redevelopment, but he did not specify how much money would be spent.
During a call with investors and Wall Street analysts in May, Sandeep Mathrani, GGP’s chief executive, said the Chicago-based company would spend more than $1 billion renovating its fleet of properties.
The Galleria Bloomingdale’s will debut around the same time as the Galleria’s neighboring mall, Americana at Brand, welcomes a new Nordstrom store.
In March, it was announced that the Galleria’s former Nordstrom anchor was going to move across the street to Americana at Brand. Americana owner Rick Caruso acquired Nordstrom’s Galleria property, which had been owned by the Seattle-based retailer, for an undisclosed price. Caruso offered to redevelop the space with Galleria management. The Galleria, so far, has not taken Caruso up on the offer, a Caruso representative said.
Mathrani blamed the loss of Nordstrom on GGP’sChapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 2009, which left the Galleria unable to upgrade the shopping center. GGP emerged from bankruptcy in November 2010.
Bloomingdale’s has been steadily expanding in California during the past five years. In 2006, it opened a store in San Francisco’s Union Square. A year later, it opened a store in South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, Calif. In 2010, it opened a new store at Santa Monica Place in Santa Monica, Calif.
Currently, there are nine Bloomingdale’s stores in California. The Glendale Galleria store will be the 10th.—Andrew Asch
