Cinderella City
Early advertisement for Cinderella City Mall.
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| Location | Englewood, Colorado |
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| Opening date | March 7, 1968 |
| Closing date | 1997 |
| Developer | Gerri von Frellick |
| No. of stores and services | 200 at peak |
| No. of anchor tenants | 4 |
| No. of floors | 3 |
Cinderella City Mall was a large shopping center located in Englewood, Colorado, United States. The mall was officially opened for business on March 7, 1968 and was demolished in 1999. It once held the distinction of being the largest covered shopping center west of the Mississippi River.
The mall featured four sections: Rose Mall, Gold Mall, Shamrock Mall and Cinder Alley. Cinder Alley, one of the two basement corridors in the mall, simulated a New York City street, complete with outdoor-esque facades and streetlamps. The ceiling tiles were painted black to simulate a sort of "night on the town" effect.
The Shamrock Mall and Cinder Alley were not linked. To go from one mall to the other, one had to go up to the fountain area to cross over. While inconvenient on the one hand it allowed for an automobile underpass, thus allowing Cinderella City patrons to search for parking spaces without having to drive around the mall's massive exterior.
The Center Court area was known as the Blue Mall. The names and large head and shoulder shadow profiles of those responsible for the building of Cinderella City were memorialized on the floor of the Blue Mall.
The original southwest anchor of the mall was Cinderella City Cinema. The cinema had no interior mall entrance, only its own exterior entrance. The entrance was marked by two story arches that mimicked those in the center fountain area. The cinema also had a novel and unique feature: all the toilet stalls in the restrooms had their own sinks and vanity areas.
In the early 1960s, developer Gerri Von Frellick proposed to build a new shopping center on what was then the KLZ (560 AM) radio tower property in Denver. Neighboring residents around the proposed property were asked for their opinion on the new shopping center, and fearing a disruption in their community, rejected the idea, and in turn the zoning board did the same.
After being rejected in Denver, Von Frellick approached Englewood in an attempt to buy a park spanning more than 60 acres (240,000 m2) to build his mall. The park sat directly opposite the Englewood City Hall and the Englewood Public Library. The zoning board accepted his proposal, the task of designing and building the mall remained.
The newly purchased area was rectangular in that it was longer east/west than it was north/south. Von Frellick would not let the area restrict the mall's size, so he designed it with an unorthodox shape. Looking at an aerial photograph, the mall appeared to be a large "M". Each leg of the "M" shape would have a code name. On the second floor, the western wing of the mall was named Rose Mall, and the eastern wing was named Gold Mall. On the bottom floor, the corridors were Shamrock Mall and Sunflower Mall, respectively. The original plans called for a structure with a one block cylindrical center court, four anchors, and surrounded in parking garages. As the plan was eventually refined, the "M" shape remained, although minor changes were made to other components. During refining, Sunflower Mall became Cinder Alley.
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