Chandler Fashion Center bets big on dining and entertainment
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Chandler Fashion Center is working on a new dining district. Rendering: Courtesy of Chandler Fashion Center
Chandler Fashion Center thinks it's got the bones to become the East Valley's premier dining destination — and it's launching a massive remodel to pull it off.
Why it matters: Several Valley malls have closed in recent years as retailers scaled back their brick-and-mortar operations.
- Chandler, which celebrates its 25th anniversary later this year, is bucking the trend.
State of play: Construction starts next month on a re-imagined entertainment and dining district near the Harkins Theatres on the property's south end, the center's general manager, Monica Greenman, tells Axios.
- A new restaurant row will include the Valley's second Din Tai Fung and first Wagyu House (an all-you-can-eat Japanese steakhouse), both slated to open next year.
- More dining announcement are imminent, Greenman says.
- The porte-cochère outside the food court will be closed to traffic to create a covered gathering place with lawn games, and the space between the food court and movie theater will become a park with an expanded splash pad and space for music performances.
Catch up quick: Chandler Fashion Center opened in 2001, replacing 320 acres of farm land on Chandler Boulevard near Loop 101 with high-end retailers and department stores.
- The project delivered Arizona's first Apple Store and second Nordstrom, a Cheesecake Factory, 20-screen Harkins Theatres, California Pizza Kitchen, Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn.
- It was a signal that the southeast Valley was growing and deserving of luxury investment.
Reality check: There have been some speed bumps since then.
- Two of the center's anchors — Sears and Nordstrom — closed in 2019 and 2020 and many of the original restaurants and storefronts have turned over many times in the past 25 years.
I was among the skeptics who doubted the mall would survive after Nordstrom bounced. But it may have been the best thing that could've happened.
- In 2023, Scheels took over the space with its first Arizona location, igniting a resurgence of interest in the mall.
- Then last year, Round 1, an arcade and bowling alley, moved into the downstairs of the former Sears.
The latest: The state's first Seafood City, North America's largest Filipino
supermarket chain, opened July 30 in the upstairs of the former Sears.
- It includes a live seafood wall and a 300-seat food hall, the Phoenix Business Journal reported.
The bottom line: "It's about taking the risk," Greenman says, noting that bowling alleys and grocery stores aren't normal mall tenants. "But guests want this, so why not give it to them?"
