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Overview

The Pavilion, a shopping mall opened in Downtown San Jose, CA, in 1989, lasted only six-and-one-half years before most of it (70,000 of 115,000 square feet) was converted into the equally ill-fated United Artists Pavilion Theatre complex ithat opened on 06/18/1996.

Building History

In an effort to resurrect its static Downtown during the 1980s and 1990s, the City of San Jose and its Redevelopment Agency poured money into adding features that it hoped would attract people back to live and shop there. The city secured an NHL team, erected a large convention center, created a remarkable civic fountain, built a large children's museum, provided tax incentives to lure the Fairmont Hotel to Downtown, and provided $10 million to build the $30 million Pavilion, a shopping mall located nearby to the Fairmont. The San Jose Mercury News stated in an article in 1996: "San Jose taxpayers, [have] paid a third of the Pavilion's $30 million cost. Located across the street from the Fairmont Hotel, the mall was intended to be the retail hub of San Jose's revitalized downtown. But the Pavilion never drew either the upscale stores or the downtown traffic it needed. It lacked an anchor store like Macy's or Nordstrom that could attract large numbers of shoppers. And at just 115,000 square feet -- smaller than a single department store -- it simply did not have enough of anything to make it a destination." (See Jamie Beckett, San Francisco Chronicle/SF Gate.com, "Pavilion Goes to the Movies / Struggling San Jose mall pins hopes on new cineplex," published 01/30/1996, accessed 07/11/2016.) The mall contained the usual stores--Waldenbooks, Gap and Victoria's Secret--that appealed to suburbanites, but it did not have anything special to draw people particularly, such as a large anchor department or discount store.

So have

PCAD id: 20328