2004 – Twenty Ninth Street replaced Crossroads Mall

BOULDER — Phoenix-based Westcor Region, a subsidiary of Macerich Co., began developing Twenty Ninth Street in 2004 to replace the existing, but nearly empty, Crossroads Mall in Boulder. It opened in Oct. 2006.

Westcor demolished a majority of the indoor mall to make way for the open-air lifestyle and retail district.

The area is bounded on the east and west by 30th and 28th streets, on the south by Arapahoe Avenue and on the north by Walnut Street, with no through streets.

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29th Street, which came to a dead end at the south end of the old Crossroads Mall, was extended to bisect the district north/south.

Early on, Westcor signed Century Theaters Inc. to bring in a 16-movie-screen multiplex; Wild Oats Market to locate its headquarters and a 35,000-square-foot store; and Home Depot’s125,000-square-foot hardware store.

Redevelopment of the former Crossroads Mall began in earnest Sept. 10 as a crowd of dignitaries, developers and neighboring property owners watched a growling backhoe bite into and destroy the Crossroads sign on 30th Street. Like a hungry tyrannosaurus Rex, the Caterpillar then rumbled to the former Hardee’s building at the corner of 30th and Arapahoe and pounded it to rubble in a matter of minutes.

In its site plan, Westcor described the neighborhoods in this way:

The central neighborhood will include one- and two-story shops, restaurants and a multiscreen movie theater with plazas and open space. There’s also the possibility of second-story office space if there’s market demand.

The project, started by Macerich, faced many planning hurdles and strong-arm tactics by the city of Boulder to achieve what it thought was the appropriate design and mix of tenants. At one point, the city considered condemning the area. Macerich and the city also considered tax-increment financing. In the end, Macerich and Westcor opted to finance the project alone.