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This shopping center replaced the Catholic girls' school, Visitation Villa, that stood on the 100-acre property between 1923-1954. Tacoma developers Norman Iverson and Associates acquired the land from the Sisters of Visitation Order for $500,000. They spent $7 million to build the shopping center's first section that included 23 businesses configured in a U-shape around which was acres of free parking. The first portion of the development took up about 50 acres. Anchor tenants in 1957 included: J.C. Penney, Rhodes Brothers, Lerner's, W.T. Grant, F.W. Woolworth and a Firestone Tire Store. Villa Plaza Shopping Center operated from 08/1957 until c. 1985. In 1985, a local developer, Basil Vyzis, bought the complex and promptly tore it down to build Lakewood Mall, which opened for business in 1989. Lakewood Mall, in turn, languished, and was largely demolished in 2001. The mall's large, anchor, department stores were left in place when the Lakewood Towne Center complex was developed in 2002.

PCAD id: 14250