North Valley Mall

Like every Denver suburb, Thornton, Colorado had it's very own shiny new mall as the town grew in the mid 1960s. North Valley Mall opened On 84th Avenue just east of I-25 in 1967.

North Valley opened in 1967 with two anchors, Montgomery Ward, and another unidentified anchor, most likely The May Company. Very little information was available to me about the original mall tenants of North Valley Mall. If you know of any, please e-mail me at bclions2002@yahoo.com .

Update- An e-mailer was kind enough to offer the following memories of North Valley Mall:

I used to live by North Valley Mall and spent some time there as a youth. The other anchor was May D&F (May Co.). In the center of the mall there was a grocery store -- Del Farm which was a part of National T Grocery (old Miller groceries in Denver). I think there was also a drug store (Walgreens? OSCO?) located next to Wards facing 84th. A movie theater (1 screen remodeled into 2) was to the back center of the mall. I think there was also a Dave Cooks sporting Goods store in the center of the mall (Dave Cook sold out to Garts). The old auto center was part of May D &F.

First Union Real Estate of Cleveland, Ohio purchased the mall in 1969. It was the first indoor mall owned by the company.

There were a number of issues with North Valley. One was an issue with local sales tax, which was very high at the time due to problems with a water filtration system the city had difficulties paying for. The second was an overabundance of retail space in the area. Northglenn, Colorado had a mall one exit north on I-25 (the Northglenn Mall, town down in 2000) and Westminster, a neighboring suburb, also had a much larger, five anchor mall, still in operation. The abundance of malls in the Denver area, including Cinderella City and Villa Italia on the west side of town, the resurgence of shopping in downtown Denver, a large regional mall opening in Boulder, and the Galleria malls opened in the area, made this smaller, dated space expendable.

But First Union found a market space for the North Valley property: office space. North Valley Tech Center opened in 1996, and today is 65% leased as an office space. It is, essentially, no longer a mall. The pictures below are in essence the "after" of the conversion of this mall to office space.

The following article discusses the conversion of North Valley from a mall to office space, and it's effects on Thornton:

The front, main entrance of the former North Valley Mall. Supposedly, the mountain theme was once used in the mall signage as well.

Speaking of signage, both of these signs are remnants of the mall as well. The sign on the left was once used for Montgomery Ward's, while the sign on the right was once mall signage visible from I-25.

Looking internally toward the East Anchor space. This was once the Montgomery Ward wing. The planters, plants, and floor tiling are a carryover from the mall.

Looking toward the West Anchor space. The anchor facade, tile, and fixtures are also a carryover from the mall.

A closer look at the West anchor space shows that the ceiling decor is original.

Looking toward one of the mall entrances facing 84th Avenue. The stone facade near left, ceiling, awning on the space distant right, and tiling are original.

Looking toward the western mall entrance facing 84th Avenue. The brick on the walls left and right is original, along with the tiling, ceiling, and fixtures.

The state of disrepair of what was once an anchor associated garage, residing on a mall outlot.

The west side of the mall, facing I-25. This is an eating area near the Denver Career Center.

The former Montgomery Ward space, shared by a company called Inflow and the ITT Career Center.

A particularly interesting feature of the former Montgomery Ward space was this section, facing 84th Avenue, where a former garage was remade into windows for classrooms.