Town Center on center stage

Public Record, The, Aug 28, 1998

PALM DESERT--Now that the new owners of the Desert Town Center have straightened out their financial problems, they are ready to enter the highly competitive mall wars.

After watching the Desert Crossing Center add several giants in the retail industry and facing the prospect of major developers building some mega malls on Interstate 10, the current owners, Trizech Hahn, have decided to make their move.

An what a move they are in the process of making! Here are some of the changes they will make:

(1) The mall will be expanded from its current 850,944 square feet to 1,034,038.

(2) A956-space parking structure will be built on the north side of the mall.

(3) The current Metro 10 theatres will be gutted and replaced with a new two-story theatre complex, 2,200 seats and 10,000 square feet larger than the former theatre cluster.

(4) JC Penny will probably be expanded by 50,000 square feet.

(5) Robinsons-May will be consolidated and expanded by 53,375 square feet.

(6) Macy's will be expanded by 22,000 square feet.

(7) A total of 27,000 square feet of new, small shops will be added.

A new grandiose entry will be built on the Highway 111 side, creating what the city planners are terming an "entertainment spline," or sufficient entertainment venues to lure people all the way through the center.

The theatres wilt be on the north side of the "spline," and along the way will be an updated food court. The idea is to shift the emphasis to the mall stores by moving the entry to the south side of the mall.

Some space will be gained by closing down the skating rink and the child care facility, which were to the back, or north side of the two-story mall.

An application for an EIR and amendment to the development plan of the original mall were scheduled to come before the city council at 7 p.m. Thursday, August 27.

The applicant has asked the city and redevelopment agency for a contribution of $11 million to build the 956-space parking deck.

The existing mall was built by Ernie Hahn in 1982-83, and very little has been done to it since then.