Retrofit Atlas

Malls · Alabama

Century Plaza

Imported, unreviewedRedevelopedDemolishedBirmingham, AL

Opened 1975. Closed 2009. Redeveloped in 2020.

Status nowDemolishedextracted, unreviewed
What it becamelogisticsextracted, unreviewed
Site size740,000 sq ft GLAEsri 2014 layer
Last sale$3.0M · 2017public reporting
Retrofit year2020extracted, unreviewed
Walkability13 of 20 · 15-minute 6 of 6EPA, OpenStreetMap
Rail within 800 mNo · Opportunity ZoneOpenStreetMap, HUD
Reach the owner 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.

Century Plaza
Century Plaza. Photo: Mike Kalasnik, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Site profile21 elements · what this retrofit is built with · tap a chip for the evidence

Former anchors
JCPenneyThis site: JCPenney wikipedia · all sites with this
Rich'sThis site: Rich's wikipedia · all sites with this
SearsThis site: Sears wikipedia · all sites with this
Finance and pipeline
On FacebookThis site: …https://www.facebook.com/127119253997716 overture · all sites with this
Sold since 2020This site: 2020 Amazon research-deals · all sites with this
Website aliveThis site: …http://www.deadmalls.com/malls/century_plaza.html overture / http check · all sites with this
Place
15-minute neighbourhood (5+ of 6 daily needs within 800 m)This site: 6/6 openstreetmap · all sites with this
3+ other atlas sites within 10 kmThis site: 3 within 10 km computed · all sites with this
30,000+ vehicles a day on an adjacent roadThis site: 64,449 on I-20 fhwa-hpms · all sites with this
County lost 10%+ of retail establishments since 2012This site: -11% census-cbp · all sites with this
Grocery within 800 mThis site: 3 stores openstreetmap · all sites with this
High social vulnerability tract (SVI ≥ 0.75)This site: 0.89 cdc-svi · all sites with this
High tornado riskThis site: Relatively High fema-nri · all sites with this
Interstate or freeway within 600 mThis site: I-20 fhwa-hpms · all sites with this
Lower-income tract (< $50k)This site: $35,324 census-acs · all sites with this
Opportunity ZoneThis site: 01073002303 hud-oz · all sites with this
Renter-majority tractThis site: 66% census-acs · all sites with this
Tract income up 60%+ since 2013This site: +84% census-acs · all sites with this
Walkable block group (EPA ≥ 12)This site: …index 13 epa-walkability · all sites with this
Strategy
RedevelopedThis site: Amazon logistics facility extraction · all sites with this
New use
Logistics and industrialThis site: Amazon logistics facility extraction · all sites with this

All elements and lists · Trends

Now

StatusDemolishedextracted, unreviewed
StrategyRedevelopedextracted, unreviewed
New useslogisticsextracted, unreviewed
What is there nowAmazon logistics facilityextracted, unreviewed
Retrofit year2020extracted, unreviewed
RedeveloperAmazonextracted, unreviewed

Planning

Zoning changelast-mile delivery centerextracted, unreviewed
Entitlement year2020extracted, unreviewed

Deals and debt

DateEventPricePartiesSource
2020Sold—Amazon ← Lumpkin DevelopmentWikipedia
2017Sold$3.0M closedLumpkin Development ← Howard Hughes CorporationWikipedia

Securitised debt and public filers

Filings (2001 to date) that name “Century Plaza” and “Birmingham” (136 hits, first 100 sampled, 11 other filers such as tenants left out). Only weak matches to commercial-mortgage trusts: the mall may have backed a securitised loan, or may just be mentioned in the filing; several trusts usually means one loan split into pari-passu notes. Earliest trust filing in the sample 2002-02-20 (a sample date, not the issuance date); candidate loan vintage 2013 from the trust name (weak match). Whether the loan is still in the pool, in special servicing or repaid is in the trust's monthly distribution reports, which are not searchable here. Text matches, not a title search. Open the search · all trusts.

KindFilerFilingsDatesForms
CMBS trust (weak)CREDIT SUISSE FIRST BOSTON MORTGAGE SECURITIES CORP42002-02-20 to 2002-03-118-K 4
CMBS trust (weak)GS Mortgage Securities Trust 2013-GCJ1412013-08-26 to 2013-08-268-K 1
Public owner (strong)GENERAL GROWTH PROPERTIES INC182001-03-19 to 2010-10-0110-K 8, 8-K 7, 10-Q 3
Public owner (strong)Howard Hughes Corp122011-04-08 to 2018-02-2610-K 8, 8-K 4
Public owner (weak)Brixmor Property Group Inc. (BRX)282014-05-07 to 2021-11-018-K 27, 8-K/A 1
Public owner (weak)Brixmor Operating Partnership LP252015-02-09 to 2021-11-018-K 25
Public owner (weak)CAREY W P & CO LLC (WPC)42006-03-15 to 2006-11-088-K 4

As reported by the owner

Property tables from the owner's annual report (Form 10-K, Item 2) on EDGAR, one row per filing year. GLA, occupancy and anchors are the filer's own figures at that year end; “leased” counts signed leases, “occupied” counts open stores; ownership is the filer's share. Matched by name and place, unreviewed; the verbatim table row is in sec_facts.csv.

Year endFilerName in filingGLA sq ftOccupancyYearsShareSales psfAnchors listed
2006General Growth Properties 10-K, 2007-03-01Century Plaza Birmingham, AL
match: exact		738,867

Site context

FEMA flood zoneX · AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARDFEMA NFHL
EPA-regulated facilities within 500 m6: AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC - DBM5; BURCH CORPORATION OFFICE AND WAREHOUSE; GOO GOO CAR WASH; PROJECT MAGIC DISTRIBUTION CENTER; SA RECYCLING LLC - PINSONEPA FRS
Census tract 010730023032,422 people, 1,944 per sq mi; median household income $35,324; median gross rent $822; 66% renters; 28.4% vacant units; 1.5% commute by transitACS 2023 5-year
Walkability (EPA, block group)index 13 of 20; 58 intersections per sq mi; nearest transit stop 227 m; land-use mix 0.66; 95,216 jobs within 45 min by car, 44,963 by transit; 28% of households without a carEPA Smart Location
Within a 10–15 minute walk (800 m)6 of 6 daily needs: 3 grocers, 1 schools, 6 parks or playgrounds, 3 health, 1 civic, 8 food and drink; 0 cycleway segments, 10 sidewalk-tagged segmentsOpenStreetMap
Opportunity Zoneyes, tract 01073002303 (rural)HUD
Housing permits, Jefferson County (AL), 2024556 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 0.95; housing and transport 0.49; 59% below 150% of poverty; 24% of households with no vehicleCDC/ATSDR
Other atlas sites nearby3 within 10 km, 4 within 25 km: Eastwood Mall (0.5 km); Larkway Gardens (7.4 km); Brookwood Village (8.2 km)computed
Overture Mapsplace Century Plaza Mall (shopping_mall, confidence 0.65, from Overture, Overture-signals, meta); building footprint 31,717 m²Overture (CDLA-Permissive 2.0)
Website and socialwww.deadmalls.com (alive); archived 2001–2026 (Wayback) · social: facebookOverture / Internet Archive
Attention: Wikipedia page views50,387 since 2015; 3,559 in the last 12 months (-25% vs the prior 12); peak 2020-11 with 2,170Wikimedia
Tract change 2013–2023population -34% (3,686 → 2,422); median income +84% ($19,189 → $35,324); renters 76% → 66%; median home value +43% ($80,700 → $115,700)Census ACS 5-year
Natural hazard risk (FEMA National Risk Index, tract)relatively low overall (score 36.5); expected annual loss $837,696; high: tornado, lightning; community resilience relatively highFEMA NRI
Tax-credit housing within 1 km1 LIHTC properties, 90 units: Augusta Pointe (90 units)HUD LIHTC
Retail trade in the county, 2012 to 20232,489 establishments (-11%); 37,386 jobs (-4%)Census CBP
Housing market in the countytypical 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)64,449 vehicles a day on I-20 (Interstate, 4 lanes); 10,312 trucks; 36 counted segmentsFHWA HPMS

Summary, model-written

Century Plaza opened in 1975 as an enclosed mall with four anchor stores and over 100 tenants. It lost three anchors in the mid‑2000s, closed completely in May 2009 when Sears and the remaining stores shut down, and was demolished in 2020 to make way for an Amazon logistics facility.

Why. The primary cause visible in the record is the loss of anchor tenants, which led to the mall’s closure. No other causes such as competition or debt are stated in the record.

Where it stands. The site is currently demolished and occupied by an Amazon logistics facility, with Amazon having acquired the property from Lumpkin Development in 2020.

For a planner

  • Precedent of converting a large vacant mall to a last‑mile delivery center.
  • Policy tools used: zoning change to “last‑mile delivery center” and entitlement granted in 2020.
  • Open questions: compatibility with surrounding land use, traffic impacts from increased truck activity, and potential for further adaptive reuse if logistics demand shifts.

For a developer

  • Site size: 740,000 sq ft GLA.
  • Control: Amazon holds title after the 2020 purchase from Lumpkin Development.
  • Entitlement stage: entitlement granted in 2020 for logistics use.
  • Known constraints: none specified in the record; flood, transit, and environmental context layers are not provided.
  • Market signals: tract‑level data are absent from the record, so local demand indicators are unknown.

What we do not know yet

  • Verification status is “draft,” indicating the data may not be fully reviewed.
  • Context‑layer information (flood risk, transit access, environmental constraints) is missing.
  • Tract‑level market or demographic data are not included, limiting assessment of local demand.
  • Exact dates of demolition and completion of the Amazon facility are not detailed beyond the year 2020.
  • Anchor tenant names and lease terms prior to closure are not provided.

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

  • Southwyck Mall, Toledo, OH · Malls · similar GLA (850,000 sq ft); opened 1972; closed 2008
  • Cloverleaf Mall, Richmond, VA · Malls · similar GLA (800,000 sq ft); opened 1972; closed 2008
  • The Mall at Westlake, Bessemer, AL · Malls · opened 1969; closed 2009; same strategy: redevelop
  • Frederick Towne Mall, Frederick, MD · Malls · similar GLA (602,000 sq ft); opened 1972; closed 2013

Elsewhere on the web

Retail history: Century Plaza on DeadMalls.com photos, field notes and visitor memories since 2000; matched by name and city; nothing copied here

Pages with photos

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

Multifamily screen

  • retrofit already built
  • closed or demolished site (sourced)
  • already in play: under construction, approved, or sold to a developer with housing plans
  • 740,000 sq ft GLA (large site)

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

Opened1975Wikidata
Closed2009extracted, unreviewed
Gross leasable area740,000 sq ftEsri 2014 layer
Stores at peak50Esri 2014 layer
AnchorsJCPenney, Sears, Rich's, Loveman's of Alabama
AddressCrestwood Blvd. & Oporto-Madrid Blvd.
CountyJefferson
Census division6 · East South Central
NotesWikipedia categories: Demolished shopping malls in the United States

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

Background

Century Plaza was an enclosed shopping mall in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Opened in 1975, the mall originally included four anchor stores and more than one hundred tenants, but lost three of those anchors in the mid-2000s. In May 2009, the mall was completely closed as Sears and the rest of the stores in the mall closed. The mall was managed by General Growth Properties of Chicago, Illinois at the time of its closure. It was demolished in 2020 and replaced by an Amazon logistics facility.

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

Timeline

  1. 1975 Opened (Wikidata)
  2. 1975 opened
  3. 2009 closed
  4. 2017 sale
  5. 2020 demolition
  6. 2020 redevelopment

Sources

More in Alabama

Montgomery MallMontgomery MallMontgomery, AL · 2012Partial Regreened · Reinhabited · Partial reinhabitation: education, 2017 Partial regreening: sports,…Brookwood VillageHomewood, ALStatus not verifiedEastwood MallEastwood MallBirmingham, ALDemolishedHeart of Huntsville MallHuntsville, AL · 2007Redeveloped · As of August 2021, only the SpringHill Suites is finished and open…Jessop's RiversideSheffield, ALRedeveloped · office parkLarkway GardensBirmingham, ALRedevelopment, proposed