Sharpstown Mall
View along Bellaire Boulevard
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| Location |
Greater Sharpstown Houston, Texas, USA |
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| Opening date | 1961 |
| Developer | Frank Sharp |
| Owner | Boxer Property Management |
| No. of anchor tenants | 2 |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Website | Plazamericas.net |
PlazAmericas, formerly known as Sharpstown Mall and earlier Sharpstown Center, is a shopping mall located in the Sharpstown development in Greater Sharpstown, Houston, Texas. The mall is located on the northwest corner of Interstate 69/U.S. Route 59 and Bellaire Boulevard. This is the third mall to be built in Houston after Gulfgate Mall opened in 1956 and Meyerland Plaza in 1957, but the first fully air-conditioned mall in Houston. The area includes the Jewelry Exchange Center, a ten story building. After the mall was renamed PlazAmericas, it took a Latin American theme and catered to Hispanics.
The mall opened as Sharpstown Mall, on September 14, 1961, mere days after Hurricane Carla affected Houston, with future United States Senator Ted Kennedy appearing during the opening ceremony as the main speaker. A 1970 Houston Chronicle article stated that Frank Sharp decided not to delay the opening; therefore the morale of Houstonians would be increased. Not surprisingly, the first day of business brought only 8,000 shoppers (a number that was affected by the hurricane).
At the time of its opening, the mall consisted of 43 stores on one level including the first suburban branch of the Houston-based Foley's department store chain, as well as the first suburban locations of Houston Trunk Factory, Battelstein's and Florsheim Shoes. In addition to Foley's, Montgomery Ward also opened as an anchor, along with the Sharpstown State Bank—later shuttered in the wake of the Sharpstown scandal which significantly involved Sharpstown developer Frank Sharp and many members of the Texas Legislature. The former bank building would later become home to the Jewelry Exchange Center, with three "motor bank" drive-throughs in the middle of the front parking lot as the only present-day reminder of the former bank.
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