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The Galleria

The Galleria main hall showing the ice rink and large skylight
Location	Uptown District, Houston, Texas, United States
Coordinates	29°44′27″N 95°27′49″W / 29.7407°N 95.4636°W / 29.7407; -95.4636Coordinates: 29°44′27″N 95°27′49″W / 29.7407°N 95.4636°W / 29.7407; -95.4636
Address	5085 Westheimer Road
Opening date	November 16, 1970 (47 years ago) (1970-11-16)[1]
Developer	Hines Interests Limited Partnership
Management	Simon Property Group
Owner	Simon Property Group (50.4%), Walton Street Real Estate Funds, Sony Corporation[citation needed] & CalPERS
No. of stores and services	375
No. of anchor tenants	4
Total retail floor area	2,237,000 sq ft (207,800 m2)[2]
No. of floors	4
Public transit access	METRO Routes 20, 33, 82, 283
Website	www.simon.com

The Galleria, stylized theGalleria or the Houston Galleria, is an upscale mixed-use urban development shopping mall located in the Uptown District of Houston, Texas, United States.^[3][4][5][6] The development consists of a retail complex, as well as the Galleria Office Towers complex,^[7] two Westin hotels, and a private health club. The office towers and hotels are separately owned and managed from the shopping center.

With 3 million total square feet (280,000 m²) of space that includes 2.4 million (223,000 m²) of gross leasable area with over 375 stores, the Galleria is the largest mall in Texas and seventh-largest in the United States.^[8][9] It is currently anchored by Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Macy's.

History

Exterior sign

The idea of an indoor shopping center with a hotel was envisioned in the 1940s by oilman Glenn H. McCarthy where a second phase was to include the Shamrock Hotel; this concept was scrapped right after the Hilton Hotel franchise took over the Shamrock in 1955. Glenn H. McCarthy's abandoned concept would influence Gerald Hines in the late 1960s.^[10][11]

The Galleria was developed by Gerald D. Hines, opening on November 16, 1970.^[1] The new shopping center, anchored by Neiman Marcus, was modeled after the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, borrowing, as its most distinctive architectural feature, a glazed barrel vault spanning the central axis of the mall. When it opened the mall had 600,000 ft² (56,000 m²) of retail space. The original skylights — which graced among other things a large, floor-level, ice rink, open year-round - had three hanging chandeliers along with the incorporation of the Houston Oaks Hotel (now The Westin Oaks Houston).^{[citation needed]}

The first expansion, known as Galleria II, was completed in 1976 and added 360,000 ft² (33,000 m²) of retail space on two levels, as well as Lord & Taylor and Frost Bros. Marshall Field's joined the mall in 1979, in a store designed by noted architect Philip Johnson. Galleria II included office space (known as the Galleria Financial Center since the early 1990s) and a second hotel, the Galleria Plaza Hotel (now The Westin Galleria Houston). In 1986, a second expansion, Galleria III, opened with a new wing to the west of Marshall Field's, anchored by Macy's. This brought the mall to almost 1.6 million ft².^{[citation needed]}

Galleria IV expansion

In February 1989 the Galleria was 93% occupied, making it the mall with the fifth highest percentage of occupied space in the Houston area.^[12]

Marshall Field's sold its store to Saks Fifth Avenue in 1996, while the mall itself was sold by Hines Interests in 1999 to a partnership of Urban Shopping Centers, Inc. and institutional funds advised by Walton Street Capital, LLC. The Walton Street affiliated funds separately purchased the office and hotel buildings at this time. Urban, in turn, was purchased by Netherlands-headquartered real estate investment group Rodamco North America, N.V. in 2000. Rodamco sold part of its stake in 2001 to the real estate investment arm of CalPERS as it tried to thwart a hostile takeover by a consortium including The Westfield Group and Simon Property Group. Ultimately unsuccessful in preventing the buyout, Rodamco's ownership interest and management operation of the mall was acquired by Simon Property Group in early 2002.

During all these rapid ownership changes, development continued on a third expansion of the shopping center, known as Galleria IV. Completed in March 2003, it added 800,000 sq ft (74,000 m²) to the south, anchored by Nordstrom and Foley's, as well as an additional 70 stores. Upon completion of Galleria IV, the shopping mall totaled 2.4 million ft² (220,000 m²) of retail space which include many high-end boutiques, such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Kate Spade, Cartier, Carolina Herrera, Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani, Jimmy Choo, Bvlgari, Valentino, Coach, Fendi, Chanel, Christofle, Tiffany & Co. Yves Saint Laurent, Burberry, Versace, Prada, and Tory Burch.

In January 2005, Lord & Taylor closed their store, with its former space being partially demolished and incorporated into the mall as an additional 100,000 ft² (9,300 m²) of retail space that opened in August 2006. This redevelopment included a Kona Grill, Oceanaire Seafood Room, Del Frisco's Steakhouse, Gigi's Asian Bistro, and nine other retail stores. During the reconstruction, some of the former Lord & Taylor infrastructure was recycled although a section of catwalks dating back to the Galleria II's 1976 expansion was demolished; this trend was similar to the Galleria IV's expansion in 2002.

In 2005, after the merger of the parent companies of Macy's and Foley's, it was announced that the Macy's store at Sage would close and that the Macy's will buy the Foley's. The Foley's was replaced by Macy's in September 2006, but the original Macy's continued to operate until 2014, both as separate full-line department stores.

In 2009, The Rainforest Cafe, a popular theme restaurant, opened near the ice rink, replacing Bennigan's. It closed in 2018 replaced by Footaction USA.

Forbes ranked the Galleria as one of the world's best shopping malls.^[13]

Anchors and stores

Visitors shopping on several levels at the Galleria

With 35 million annual visitors, The Galleria has constantly been named the most visited attraction in Greater Houston.^[14] Department stores and other tenants earn their highest sales in the Houston area at the Galleria.

Anchors

• 
  Macy's (250,000 sq ft., opened 2003 as Foley's, became Macy's in 2006)
  


• 
  Neiman Marcus Flagship Store (224,000 sq ft., opened 1969)
  


• 
  Nordstrom (226,000 sq ft., opened 2003)
  


• 
  Saks Fifth Avenue Flagship Store (210,000 sq ft., opened 1979 as Marshall Field's, closed 1996 and reopened as Saks Fifth Avenue in 1997)
  

Dillard's, which technically is not a part of the Galleria, is located across the street from Neiman Marcus. The store is linked to the Galleria by a pedestrian crosswalk (with a pedestrian-only traffic light at Post Oak Boulevard). This location ranks constantly among the highest grossing for Dillard's.

Former anchors

Macy's (Galleria III) (262,600 sq ft., opened 1986, redubbed in 2006 as "Macy's at Sage") was closed in April 2014.^[15] Galleria III was demolished and is being rebuilt as a new wing with Saks Fifth Avenue as anchor. The existing Saks will be repurposed as part of the new Galleria III wing.

Surrounding the Galleria are other upscale shopping centers and districts such as River Oaks District, BLVD Place, Uptown Collection, Uptown Park, Rice Village, and Highland Village that feature similar stores and retail mix.

Lodging, offices and entertainment

Polar Ice at the Galleria

The Galleria includes a 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m²) ice skating facility with 80 feet (24 m) x 180-foot (55 m) rink. The rink, known as "Polar Ice" and originally built in 1970, was the first ever built inside a mall.^[16] The rink is positioned below the mall's central glass atrium which was originally added by Hines to increase the visibility of the stores in the lower level.^[17] There is a jogging track on the roof around the atrium with a view to this rink. About 50 restaurants and specialty food stores at all prices and service points are located throughout the Galleria complex.

Lodging

Two Westin hotels are also located directly in the Galleria complex, The Westin Galleria and the Westin Oaks (prior to 1984, both hotels were known as the Galleria Plaza Hotel and Houston Oaks Hotel when Westin Hotels and Resorts was known as Western International Hotels).

Offices

The Galleria has three office towers with Galleria Financial Center acting as the hub of the mall where the shops and offices share a common atrium with glass elevators and offices overlooking the mall below. The Galleria Financial Center is occupied by many financial institutions such as Merrill Lynch, UBS AG, Citigroup, law offices, financial services companies and energy trading companies. The other two office buildings are Post Oak Tower,^[18] and the Galleria Tower. Additionally, Williams Tower is also connected by a walkway.

See also

• List of largest shopping malls in the United States

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Galleria.

• Official website