Mall Make-Over : Northridge Center Works to Erase Image and Bring Back Customers

When the walls--and ceilings and parking structures--came tumbling down at the Northridge Fashion Center on Jan. 17, 50,000 shoppers a day disappeared.

Owners hope a grand refurbishing will bring them back in even greater numbers when the mall reopens next spring.

The current renovation--which could cost as much as $60 million--is aimed at turning the most battered of the area’s earthquake-damaged malls into the most modern.

It is to be an open, clean and well-lighted place. And if the look of today helps erase the images of yesterday--a crushed Bullock’s store and pancaked parking structures, broadcast around the world--then so much the better.

“Our desire is to bring it into the ‘90s . . .make it a more friendly place to shop,� said Chan Chandler, a spokeswoman for the mall’s owner, MEPC American Properties of Dallas.

Instead of dingy, 1970s-style carpet, shoppers will click along on multicolored granite tiles. Elevators and escalators will replace many staircases. And elaborate skylights will illuminate indoor palm trees and bubbling fountains.

“One of the major changes is going to be the skylights,� Chandler said. “Right now it’s really kind of dark, so they will really open it up.�

The few skylights that were previously in place rode out the quake without shattering. Nevertheless, the new ones will be made of safety glass that breaks into small, rounded pieces without jagged edges should it shatter.

Built in 1971, the Northridge mall has undergone a handful of less ambitious renovations over the years, said Lloyd Miller, manager. MEPC bought it just one month before the quake, but was already planning a major overhaul when the temblor struck.

“The earthquake speeded up the process,� Miller said.

If the low ceilings and stark fluorescent lighting in the old Fashion Center did not make it a notably inviting place, the 1.5-million-square-foot mall still did a healthy business, and its overnight demise has affected more than just the merchants inside.

The 210 stores not only brought in an estimated $1 million a day, but also lured 50,000 shoppers daily, many of whom patronized neighboring businesses as well.

“Their closure had quite an impact, both in terms of employment and the so-called ripple effect,� said Scott Spooner, incoming president of the Northridge Chamber of Commerce.

When the mall reopens, “a number of other businesses will start thriving again,� Spooner added.

Even the city of Los Angeles has suffered, losing about $10,000 a day in sales tax revenues, according to figures provided by Jim Hickey, the city’s principal tax auditor.

Next to the homeless merchants, though, it may be the serious shopper who has suffered most.

A telephone operator responding to a request for the shopping center’s number said, “Are they back open? Goody, goody!�

Not yet, but MEPC is doing its best to ensure similar responses when the doors do open--which mall officials insist will now happen in early 1995, though earlier, overly optimistic announcements had it reopening this year. The company has enlisted award-winning Dallas architectural firm RTKL Associates to guide the renovation.

In addition to an open atmosphere and plenty of earth tones, the center will for the first time sport a food court, with eight to 10 restaurants and seating for 600.

And the infamous parking structures that collapsed--one pinning an injured maintenance worker for seven hours--will be replaced with parking “terraces,� made of concrete poured in place rather than the precast type that crumbled more easily in the quake. Design changes should also make them easier to navigate.

Chandler of MEPC said cost estimates for the work are not complete, but the price tag for a similar overhaul on a smaller mall the company owns in Las Vegas came to about $60 million.

While the price may be hefty, such renovations are essential to remaining competitive, even without a massive closure, said Mike Hanssens, professor of marketing at the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA.

“Most retail outlets will once in awhile go through a major face lift,� Hanssens said. “It has a lot to do with rejuvenating your market.�

And for MEPC, refurbishing and updating other malls has proven to be an excellent investment, said Joel Blaisdell, vice president for retail leasing.

“It’s not uncommon to have double-digit increases when you reopen,� he said, adding that after the 1992 renovation of the company’s Las Vegas mall, revenues were up 10% to 25%

“The return will come to us,� he said.