Los Arcos Mall was a shopping mall which was located on the southeast corner of Scottsdale and McDowell roads in Scottsdale, Arizona. The mall featured a Spanish architectural motif. Almost all of it was demolished in the early 2000s. The site is now the home of SkySong, Arizona State University's Scottsdale Center for New Technology and Innovation.
History
Opening
Los Arcos Mall had a soft opening in October 1969 with an official opening on November 14, 1969. It was the first mall to be developed by Phoenix-based Westcor Partners, Russ Lyon Jr. and John L. Holmes. It cost $6 million to build, and was located on of land. The cross-shaped, air-conditioned, enclosed mall was anchored by a, $2.2 million, three-story Broadway Southwest on the east end. A, $6.1 million Sears anchored the south end, consisting of two floors plus a full basement, plus a 25,178-square-foot Sears auto center in an outbuilding. Both department stores were the third Phoenix Metro location in their respective chains. There was a mall entrance and a food court on the north end, and another entrance and a lower-level movie theatre on the west end. The mall was one of the largest and most modern in the Phoenix metropolitan area for its first decade or so. However, as newer and larger centers were built nearby, Los Arcos' drawing power began to fade.
Decline
The first signs of decline came in 1979 when the plus Fiesta Mall opened in Mesa with four major department stores. During the 1980s and 1990s, Scottsdale Fashion Square, which is only three miles to the north of the Los Arcos site, went through several expansions and renovations and began to serve as Scottsdale's regional mall. While several retailers had locations at both malls, such as Sam Goody and Express, retailers began to open their stores more and more at Scottsdale Fashion Square. In 1995, when Federated Department Stores purchased The Broadway, most stores were converted to Macy's. However, the Los Arcos location became a clearance store for a short time and then closed. In 1999, the mall's last remaining department store, Sears, moved to a new location in the former Dillard's store at Fashion Square. . This led to the closure and subsequent demolition of the mall with the exception of the Red Robin restaurant on the outside of the mall which remained open until 2002.
