Malls · Alabama

The Mall at Westlake

Imported, unreviewedRedevelopedClosedBessemer, AL

Opened 1969. Closed 2009. Redeveloped in 2025.

Status nowClosedextracted, unreviewed

documented

vacant for 16 years

en.wikipedia.org

What it becameindustrialextracted, unreviewed reported

Retrofit year2025extracted, unreviewed reported

Walkability17.5 of 20 · 15-minute 5 of 6EPA, OpenStreetMap

Rail within 800 mNo · Opportunity ZoneOpenStreetMap, HUD

Ask who owns this Download dossier (PDF) · early access Download record (JSON) API Share LinkedIn Correct this record

Solid = from the authors' map · outlined = public source · dashed = model-written, not yet reviewed by a person. Tap any value's source label to see where it came from. documented = a quoted excerpt (click to read it) · reported = a source named, no excerpt yet · no source.

Exterior sign of The Mall at Westlake with Food World branding. · verified by a vision model. Photo: Taylor2646, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Site profile16 elements · what this retrofit is built with · tap a chip for the evidence

Former anchors

Sears

This site: Sears wikipedia · all sites with this

Finance and pipeline

On Facebook

This site: …https://www.facebook.com/480819435325744 overture · all sites with this

Website alive

This site: …http://www.bestechgroup.com/ overture / http check · all sites with this

Place

15-minute neighbourhood (5+ of 6 daily needs within 800 m)

This site: 5/6 openstreetmap · all sites with this

County lost 10%+ of retail establishments since 2012

This site: -11% census-cbp · all sites with this

FEMA special flood hazard area

This site: AE fema-nfhl · all sites with this

Grocery within 800 m

This site: 2 stores openstreetmap · all sites with this

High inland flooding risk

This site: Relatively High fema-nri · all sites with this

High social vulnerability tract (SVI ≥ 0.75)

This site: 0.89 cdc-svi · all sites with this

High tornado risk

This site: Very High fema-nri · all sites with this

Lower-income tract (< $50k)

This site: $33,107 census-acs · all sites with this

Opportunity Zone

This site: 01073010200 hud-oz · all sites with this

Tract income up 60%+ since 2013

This site: +60% census-acs · all sites with this

Walkable block group (EPA ≥ 12)

This site: …index 17.5 epa-walkability · all sites with this

Strategy

Redeveloped

This site: …shuttered center extraction · all sites with this

New use

Logistics and industrial

This site: …new_use field extraction · all sites with this

All elements and lists · Trends

Now

Status	Closedextracted, unreviewed documented vacant for 16 years en.wikipedia.org
Strategy	Redevelopedextracted, unreviewed documented would be redeveloped as Marvel City Business Park, an industrial park en.wikipedia.org
New uses	industrialextracted, unreviewed reported
What is there now	shuttered centerextracted, unreviewed documented The shuttered center was sold to Bessemer used-car dealership owner Anthony Underwood en.wikipedia.org
Retrofit year	2025extracted, unreviewed reported

Site context

Transit within 800 m	no rail station; 2 bus stops within 400 mOpenStreetMap
Motorway junctions within 2 km	110, 112OpenStreetMap
FEMA flood zone	AE · special flood hazard areaFEMA NFHL
EPA-regulated facilities within 500 m	3: CVS PHARMACY #4830; SAID SAREMI; SHOP-A-SNAK #27 (3822)EPA FRS
Census tract 01073010200	2,828 people, 1,963 per sq mi; median household income $33,107; median gross rent $878; 44% renters; 18.1% vacant units; 0.0% commute by transitACS 2023 5-year
Walkability (EPA, block group)	index 17.5 of 20; 98 intersections per sq mi; no transit stop within the EPA search radius; land-use mix 0.76; 64,525 jobs within 45 min by car, 5,826 by transit; 22% of households without a carEPA Smart Location
Within a 10–15 minute walk (800 m)	5 of 6 daily needs: 2 grocers, 0 schools, 1 parks or playgrounds, 1 health, 4 civic, 5 food and drink; 0 cycleway segments, 0 sidewalk-tagged segmentsOpenStreetMap
Opportunity Zone	yes, tract 01073010200 (rural)HUD
Housing permits, Jefferson County (AL), 2024	556 units in 5+ unit buildings, 25 in 2–4, 1,536 single-family; 2023: 324 in 5+Census BPS
Social vulnerability (CDC SVI 2022, tract)	overall percentile 0.89; socioeconomic 0.98; housing and transport 0.78; 61% below 150% of poverty; 11% of households with no vehicleCDC/ATSDR
Other atlas sites nearby	0 within 10 km, 3 within 25 kmcomputed
Overture Maps	place The Mall at Westlake (shopping_mall, confidence 0.81, from Overture, meta); building footprint 31,032 m², 5.214469909667969 mOverture (CDLA-Permissive 2.0)
Website and social	www.bestechgroup.com (alive) · social: facebookOverture / Internet Archive
Attention: Wikipedia page views	17,453 since 2015; 1,782 in the last 12 months (-31% vs the prior 12); peak 2025-06 with 480Wikimedia
Tract change 2013–2023	population +2% (2,769 → 2,828); median income +60% ($20,640 → $33,107); renters 46% → 44%; median home value +18% ($63,800 → $75,400)Census ACS 5-year
Natural hazard risk (FEMA National Risk Index, tract)	relatively moderate overall (score 70.0); expected annual loss $1.4M; high: tornado, inland flooding, lightning; community resilience relatively highFEMA NRI
Tax-credit housing within 1 km	noneHUD LIHTC
Retail trade in the county, 2025 (BLS QCEW)	36,769 jobs in 2,710 establishments; average annual pay $42,149; employment location quotient 1.01; employment -1.0% on the yearBLS QCEW 2025, NAICS 44-45, private
Jobs located in the tract, 2022	2,558 jobs; 679 in retail trade, 215 in accommodation and food (workplace blocks summed to tract 01073010200)Census LEHD LODES8 WAC 2022
Upward mobility (Opportunity Atlas, 2010 tract)	children of low-income (25th percentile) families reached the 31th income percentile as adults; 7.6% incarcerated at the 2010 count (622 children in the sample); born 1978–83, measured 2014–15Opportunity Insights
Food access (USDA FARA 2019, 2010 tract)	not a low-access tract at 1 mile; 0% of residents more than 1 mile from a supermarket; poverty rate 19.7%; median family income $47,786; 312 SNAP householdsUSDA ERS
Schools	Bessemer City School District (PK-12); 2 public schools within 1 mile: Alabama Aerospace and Aviation High School; New Horizon Alternative SchoolNCES EDGE
Elevation	464 ft above sea level at the site pointUSGS 3DEP
Storm events in the county, 2016-2025	310 county-logged events: 191 thunderstorm wind, 50 flash flood, 46 hail, 15 tornado; $5,107,500 property damage reported; 6 direct deaths; forecast-zone events (most flood, winter and heat) not countedNOAA Storm Events
Homes for sale in ZIP 35020, 2026-09	median list price $99,999 (-16.7% on the year); 66 active listings; median 58 days on market; 14% with a price cutRealtor.com Research
Retail trade in the county, 2012 to 2023	2,489 establishments (-11%); 37,386 jobs (-4%)Census CBP
Housing market in the county	typical home value $214,208 (+2% 1 yr, +14% 5 yr); typical rent $1,339/mo (+3% 1 yr), 2026-09Zillow Research
Traffic on the busiest road within 600 m (2024)	16,902 vehicles a day on Veterans Memorial Dr (principal arterial, 4 lanes); 507 trucks; 17 counted segmentsFHWA HPMS

Summary, model-written

The Mall at Westlake opened in 1969 with three original anchors (Sears, Grant's, Loveman's). Over time, all original anchors closed by 1989, a Bruno's flagship opened in 1994 but shut after its 2009 bankruptcy, leading to the mall’s closure that year. In 2025 an announcement was made to redevelop the site as Marvel City Business Park, an industrial use.

Why. The record shows anchor losses (original anchors closed 1989) and the bankruptcy of Bruno's in 2009 as key factors leading to the mall’s decline and closure.

Where it stands. The site is currently closed, with an announced 2025 redevelopment as Marvel City Business Park; the record does not specify the controlling entity.

For a planner

Precedent: earlier 1985 effort to convert the mall to a factory outlet center.
Policy tools: not stated in the record.
Open questions: ownership, financing, zoning for industrial use, and timeline for the 2025 redevelopment.

For a developer

Site size: not stated in the record.
Control: not stated in the record.
Entitlement stage: announced redevelopment for 2025, but detailed approvals or permits are not provided.
Constraints: context layers (flood, transit, environment) and market signals from tract data are absent in the record.

What we do not know yet

Owner or controlling entity of the site is not identified.
Site dimensions and parcel configuration are not provided.
Zoning status and any entitlements for industrial use are unspecified.
Environmental, flood, and transit constraints are not detailed in the context layers.
The record is marked as 'draft' verification, indicating potential data quality issues.

Generated by nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b on NVIDIA API via Hermes CT from the fields, parcels, deals and context layers on this page, with no outside knowledge. It is regenerated when the record changes and has not been checked by a person. How it is made.

Similar sites

Century Plaza, Birmingham, AL · Malls · opened 1975; closed 2009; same strategy: redevelop
Honeydale Mall, Toronto · Malls · opened 1973; closed 2013; same strategy: redevelop
Midtown Plaza, Rochester, NY · Malls · opened 1962; closed 2008; same strategy: redevelop
Cloverleaf Mall, Richmond, VA · Malls · opened 1972; closed 2008; same strategy: redevelop

Elsewhere on the web

Pages with photos

Zetabid Presents the Mall at Westlake - YouTube youtube.com
17 The Mall At Westlake Stock Photos, High-Res Pictures, and Im… gettyimages.in

Search images: Google · Bing · Commons · references: ULI case studies · Google Scholar

Multifamily screen

retrofit already built
closed or demolished site (sourced)

Inputs: record fields (size, status) and county Census ACS 2018–2023 figures (growth, rent). How the points work. Not a recommendation.

History and original facts

Opened	1969extracted, unreviewed
Closed	2009extracted, unreviewed documented Bruno's filed bankruptcy in 2009, closing its store at the mall. en.wikipedia.org
Anchors	Sears, Grant's, Loveman's
County	Jefferson County
Census division	6 · East South Central
Notes	Wikipedia categories: Defunct shopping malls in the United States

Not yet recorded: acres, GLA, original developer. Know it? Tell us.

Background

The Mall at Westlake, typically referred to as Westlake Mall, was an enclosed shopping mall in Bessemer, Alabama.

Excerpt from Wikipedia (authors and history), CC BY-SA 4.0. May be older than the record above.

Timeline

1969 Mall opened with three anchors Sears, Grant's, Loveman's
1970 George Wallace campaign event at the mall
1983 Rape and kidnapping near the mall
1985 Effort to turn mall into a factory outlet center
1989 All three original anchors closed
1994 Bruno's Supermarkets opened flagship store
2000 Goody's store relocated elsewhere
2009 Bruno's filed bankruptcy, closing its store
2025 Announced redevelopment as Marvel City Business Park

Sources

Wikipedia: The Mall at Westlake · supports: after notes, status, strategy, year closed, year opened
14 quoted sentences
The mall opened in 1969 with three anchors, Sears, Grant's, and Loveman's.
Bruno's filed bankruptcy in 2009, closing its store at the mall.
The shuttered center was sold to Bessemer used-car dealership owner Anthony Underwood
vacant for 16 years

Cite

Retrofit Atlas (2026). "The Mall at Westlake, Bessemer, AL." Record m-a5d0ef4da3, imported, unreviewed. Built on the public Retrofitting Suburbia map (Dunham-Jones and Williamson) and the sources listed. https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/al/bessemer-the-mall-at-westlake/ (accessed 2026-10-21).

BibTeX

@misc{retrofitatlas_bessemerthemallatwestlake,
  title = {The Mall at Westlake, Bessemer, AL},
  author = {{Retrofit Atlas}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/al/bessemer-the-mall-at-westlake/}},
  year = {2026},
  note = {Record m-a5d0ef4da3, release 2026-10-21, tier: draft. Built on the Retrofitting Suburbia map (Dunham-Jones and Williamson) and the sources listed on the record. Accessed 2026-10-21}
}

How to cite, versioning