Quote:
Originally Posted by HSVTiger
Pic from Huntsville City Blog
Madison Square in its hey day, looking north
Demolition is scheduled to begin Feb 6th
a few quotes from the blog
"Unlike many cities, Huntsville has a respectable history of revitalizing its older indoor malls. The former Heart of Huntsville Mall at Governors Drive and the Parkway transitioned into the Huntsville Hospital Medical Mall. The Mall (it was really called THE Mall) on North Parkway at University Drive redeveloped into The Fountain featuring Costco, Home Depot, Staples, and Books a Million. Parkway City Mall on South Parkway at Drake Avenue successfully renovated and expanded into Parkway Place Mall."
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Actually, the Heart of Huntsville Mall was never redeveloped and is now the mostly empty land known as Constellation. The Huntsville Hospital Medical Mall is what was formerly known as Dunnavant's Mall and was anchored by the hometown department store, Dunnavant's which was somewhat high end (I remember they carried Hart Shaffner and Marx Men's suits). The mall stores included a Britlings's Cafeteria, Bromberg's Jewelers (still in business in Birmingham), Bookland Bookstore (forerunner to Books a Million), and a Goodyear Tire Store which was in the rear. Dunnavant's also continued to operate their downtown store at the intersection of Washington and Clinton. If you are facing this present Medical Mall structure from the Parkway/Governors intersection, Dunnavant's was to the right of the mall entrance and Britling's was to the left. Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle first moved here from Birmingham in order to manage the Britling's. In the late 1970's, Rich's Department store from Atlanta (present day Macy's) had plans to convert the mall into one of their stores - if they had, HSV would probably have a Macy's today.
The Heart of Huntsille Mall was originally an outdoor mall which was later enclosed in the early 1970's. Sears, was on the south end and some of the inline mall stores included a Bill's London Transit Men's store, a Hornbuckle Magnavox T.V. store and the Bavaria German Cafe which was a forerunner to Old Heidelberg (which was located at The Mall before moving to its present location).
Pesent day, Parkway Place has seen the most successful renovation of all HSV retail centers. Originally an outdoor strip center called Parkway City, it was anchored by a G.C. Murphy (similar to K-Mart), a Pizitz Department store (which later became McRae's and then later Belk), and a Montgomery Ward on the north end. In 1974, a tornado destroyed most of it and this led to it being developed into an indoor mall which connected the Pizitz (which had been in a free standing building) and added HSV's first Parisian Dept. store which was located on the Drake Ave. side. Later in the early 1990's, the mall was totally redeveloped into the more high end two story, Parkway Place (Parkway City Mall had been one floor)when Parisian built the store which Belk presently occupies and the rest of the present day mall was built.
The present day, The Fountains Shopping Center at the Parkway and University was HSV's first indoor mall, called "The Mall" and was anchored by a J.C. Penney and a Loveman's department store from Birmingham. The opening of Madison Square in 1984 was the death of this mall as Loveman's whole chain went out of business and Penney's moved to Madison Square. The Loveman's building is the only thing that remains of The Mall and its building is where Books a Million and the former Toys R Us was. A point of trivia is that HSV's first Chick fil A was at The Mall.
It is interseting to see the evolution of Huntsville retail - Sears and Penney's moved to Madison Square when it opened in 1984 and their moves lead to the deaths of their respective former malls. Now, little over thirty years later, both chains buildings are being demolished and they are ending a long history in this area, although Sears will open a smaller appliance store at Mid City Huntsville. To the original point, outside of the Springhill Suites Hotel, the original Heart of Huntsville Mall property at the Parkway and Clinton, has not been redeveloped.
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