The demolition of Northwest Plaza, once the queen of the shopping malls of St. Louis, continues. As the ill-fated, and revealed by the demolition of the cheaply built enclosure of the mall in the late 1980′s nears completion, one can see the original anchors in much the way they would have been seen when the mall first opened. That being said, the Sears and Dillards are rapidly coming down, and there will be little left of them by the end of 2013. Below, the hulk of the Dillards under demolition.
And here is the Sears, with much of its southern wing already destroyed.
But the good news, if you can call if that, is the original J.C. Penney and Famous Barr buildings will remain, according to the mall’s redevelopment plan.
A little bit of the enclosed portion of the mall will apparently remain; as mentioned earlier, demolition has revealed how sloppy and slipshod that construction was. The old Scruggs, Vandervoort and Barney store, converted into a movie theater, has already been completely demolished.
Below is the Famous Barr, with one of the distinctive domes left intact.
The office tower will remain as well.
The old J.C. Penney will remain, despite being the least architecturally meritorious of the original anchors.
