The size of this elevator had always puzzled me. It must’ve been some regulatory thing. As in, the one by the food court holds the same amount of people together, but being a high traffic area, it made more sense to have two, so some could go down at the same time people went up. Also, what makes the size of this strange is that I saw this mall at its peak successfulness. My mom would sometimes use it if she had a stroller, and there was NEVER anyone else using it. That theater did not exist until like maybe 2006, long after the mall was already in the decline. They used to be located on the first floor, under the food court. They walled it off, and it’s been a sealed time capsule ever since. By the early 2000s, that theater was already dated, with stadium seating being all the rage. It probably made more sense to just abandon it and start from scratch, but even then, the city had 4 movie theaters at the time, 3 of which were blocks from each other. I’m surprised this theater has survived as being the last remaining one. Maybe the update/move WAS worth it. I think they had originally intended for another two story anchor that would go in that spot, but it never did. And this section was actually a second phase, opening possibly a year after the mall did, as the mall originally ended with that Sears. But it went a good 15 or so years before something actually was built there.
The size of this elevator had always puzzled me. It must’ve been some regulatory thing. As in, the one by the food court holds the same amount of people together, but being a high traffic area, it made more sense to have two, so some could go down at the same time people went up.
Also, what makes the size of this strange is that I saw this mall at its peak successfulness. My mom would sometimes use it if she had a stroller, and there was NEVER anyone else using it. That theater did not exist until like maybe 2006, long after the mall was already in the decline. They used to be located on the first floor, under the food court. They walled it off, and it’s been a sealed time capsule ever since. By the early 2000s, that theater was already dated, with stadium seating being all the rage. It probably made more sense to just abandon it and start from scratch, but even then, the city had 4 movie theaters at the time, 3 of which were blocks from each other. I’m surprised this theater has survived as being the last remaining one. Maybe the update/move WAS worth it.
I think they had originally intended for another two story anchor that would go in that spot, but it never did. And this section was actually a second phase, opening possibly a year after the mall did, as the mall originally ended with that Sears. But it went a good 15 or so years before something actually was built there.