On July 31, 1968, Southcenter mall opens in Tukwila, located in King County, south of Seattle, not far from Sea-Tac International Airport.
In late April 2002, the 1.6 million-square-foot shopping center, by now the largest in the state of Washington, was bought by the Australia-based firm Westfield America Trust. The new owners changed the name of Southcenter Mall to Westfield Shoppingtown Southcenter. Many nearby residents and store owners were not thrilled by the numerous new syllables of the new name.
Sources:
Walt Crowley, Rites of Passage: A Memoir of the Sixties in Seattle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995), 258; Jake Batsell, "New Owners of Southcenter Mall Give it a New Name After 34 Years," The Seattle Times, May 3, 2002 (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ html/businesstechnology).
Licensing: This essay is licensed under a Creative Commons license that
encourages reproduction with attribution. Credit should be given to both
HistoryLink.org and to the author, and sources must be included with any
reproduction. Click the icon for more info. Please note that this
Creative Commons license applies to text only, and not to images. For
more information regarding individual photos or images, please contact
the source noted in the image credit.
Major Support for HistoryLink.org Provided
By:
The State of Washington | Patsy Bullitt Collins
| Paul G. Allen Family Foundation | Museum Of History & Industry
| 4Culture (King County Lodging Tax Revenue) | City of Seattle
| City of Bellevue | City of Tacoma | King County | The Peach
Foundation | Microsoft Corporation, Other Public and Private
Sponsors and Visitors Like You