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Scottsdale Fashion Square is the largest shopping mall in Arizona, with approximately 2 million square feet (190,000 m²) of retail space, and is among the largest malls in the country. The mall is located on the northwest corner of the intersection of Scottsdale Road and Camelback Road in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Scottsdale Fashion Square has a unique development history among regional shopping malls. The mall was originally built as a 3-story open-air structure in 1961. A competing mall, the fully-enclosed Camelview Plaza, was subsequently built just west of Scottsdale Fashion Square, on the other side of North 70th Street.
The two malls competed for shoppers and tenants until, in the late-80s, the owners agreed to connect the malls by building a two-story retail bridge across North 70th Street. In the process, the street separating the two malls was sunk below grade-level, widened to four lanes, and renamed North Goldwater Boulevard. Scottsdale Fashion Square was largely gutted and completely renovated. It was also enclosed by a system of retractable glass skylights. A variety of tenants were able to remain in-place and operating throughout this redevelopment process. In addition to the space added in the retail bridge, the redevelopment process also added additional department store and small store area to each of the malls. The redevelopment was completed in 1991.
Although connected, the two malls retained separate ownership and identities. Signage within the malls indicated to shoppers the demarcation between the two structures. These separate identities continued until, in 1996, the owner of Scottsdale Fashion Square purchased Camelview Plaza.
Due to the success of the redeveloped and expanded mall, the owners again looked for ways to add additional square footage. In 1999, they completed construction of a second retail bridge, this time south across the six-lane Camelback Road. This bridge leads to a new sixth department store location.
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