In November 1997, at the renewed outlet mall, a line outside Ross Dress for Less spilled into the mall corridor.
The shopping center was hosting a 35-day grand opening celebration at Ina Road and La Cholla Boulevard, and attendance that day reached levels not seen since the mall first opened fifteen years earlier.
The manager later called it a "miniature version of Arizona Mills." The phrase pointed to the mall's shift in strategy after a period when it nearly shut down.
What people remember depends on when they were there. The mall in 1997 did not feel the same as it did in 1984, 2008, or 2022, and all of those impressions are valid.
Foothills Mall moved through at least three clear phases, and another is still underway.
The parking lots where shoppers once loaded up discount clothes and outlet sneakers are now construction sites, with cranes and the early structure of a hotel that is expected to open in January 2027.
Most of the enclosed mall is gone, with more than 65 percent demolished in 2023.
The new development is called Uptown, with Barnes & Noble and the AMC theater still open during construction, and the first apartment building aiming for move-ins in June 2026.
Foothills Mall Opens at Ina and La Cholla in 1982
The lot at Ina Road and La Cholla Boulevard was still raw dirt when the Arizona Daily Star ran photographs of it in July 1981.
A scale model that same year showed two anchor stores planned at roughly 110,000 square feet each: Levy's and Goldwaters.
Construction moved through late 1981 and into 1982, with the anchor buildings and interior corridor coming together through the spring.
Federated Stores Realty Inc. developed the project. The mall opened in August 1982 with 36 specialty shops alongside the two department stores.
Northwest Tucson in 1982 was still growing outward, and the location suited a conventional suburban mall.
The format was entirely standard - enclosed, climate-controlled, anchored by department stores, ringed by smaller tenants.
A cinema was part of the original build, and by May 1983, it had a line forming for "Return of the Jedi."
A 1940s-themed dance contest ran in the common areas in July 1983. By August 1984, crowds were sparse.
A large charity Salsa Shootout filled the mall in 1992, and management was already working to pull in traffic any way it could.
The mall was popular with nearby residents but had never quite taken off.
Renovation Couldn't Reverse Foothills Mall's Anchor Decline
A $3 million renovation in 1986 included work on the Old Pueblo Museum's water-stair feature inside the mall.
The investment kept the property running, but did not change its fundamental problem: the anchor stores were underperforming.
Foothills Mall needed department-store traffic to function as a conventional enclosed mall, and that traffic never built to the level the format required.
Foley's and Dillard's both left in 1994.
Without anchors, an enclosed mall loses its reason for existing in the traditional sense - shoppers do not drive to a dead-end corridor of specialty stores unless something specific is pulling them in.
The vacancy left behind by two 110,000-square-foot stores sat mostly unfilled for months.
When Don Bourn and FHM Partners took control in 1994, the center sat at 12 percent occupancy - 88 percent empty, more than twelve years after the doors first opened in 1982.
Outlet Retail and Stage 35 Helped Revive Foothills Mall
Bourn and his partners did not try to replace the departed department stores with equivalent tenants.
Instead, they rebuilt the center around outlet retail and entertainment - a format closer to what Arizona Mills would later do on a larger scale on the south side of the Phoenix metro area.
Barnes & Noble was under construction in the mall in 1996.
By 1997, the tenant list included a Donna Karan outlet, Ross, Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th, Nike Factory Store, and a Sega-branded gaming concept called Stage 35/GameWorks.
Ross turned out to be the single biggest traffic driver.
The 35-day grand opening celebration in November 1997 ended with occupancy sitting at roughly 85 percent - described at the time as the highest the mall had ever reached.
By the time Bourn and FHM Partners sold the property in 1999, occupancy had climbed to 95 percent. The turnaround took five years and transformed a 12-percent-occupied shell into a functioning retail center.
A $54 Million Sale and Years of Community Life
Six investors connected to Feldman Equities of Arizona LLC bought Foothills Mall in 2002 for $54 million. The property at the time covered 496,000 square feet and was running at 95 percent occupancy.
The 2003 construction phase added a new entrance with Famous Footwear, Starbucks, and Thomasville Furniture.
In 2004, the Loews Cineplex theater entrance was rerouted through the interior mall, and north-side renovation work brought new shops and restaurants near Linens & Things.
Mall-walking groups earned plaques after logging 2,000 miles - one full lap counted as one mile. Barnes & Noble staged a Harry Potter release event in 2007 with heavy traffic.
A 2008 article later described the footprint as 517,000 square feet, reflecting additions in the intervening years.
By 2008, the center had grown to more than 90 stores and was generating roughly $100 million in annual sales.
Thunder Canyon Brewery operated inside the mall. A "Wheel of Fortune" audition stop came through. Stroller fitness groups used the corridors in 2010.
Free performances ran in 2011. Animal adoption booths occupied common areas alongside active food-court kiosks, and the mall-walking program was still drawing regulars five years after it started.
Tucson Premium Outlets Drew Away Key Foothills Mall Tenants
Tucson Premium Outlets opened in Marana on October 1, 2015. Within months, Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH moved from Foothills Mall to the new center.
Old Navy, Nike, Hanes, and several other outlet names either left or declined to renew their leases.
The outlet-and-entertainment formula that had kept Foothills Mall alive for nearly two decades depended on being the only place in the Tucson area offering that mix.
Once a dedicated outlet center opened less than ten miles away, that advantage was gone.
Bourn Companies bought the property back in December 2016, when the mall was running at about 73 percent occupancy.
Don Bourn described the physical plant as over 30 years old, "old and tired," and no longer suited to how retail had shifted.
Pima County approved the redevelopment plan in 2018. The 51-acre site received zoning for buildings up to 10 stories tall and a mix of residential, retail, restaurant, hotel, medical, and other uses.
Demolition Begins, and Uptown Takes Shape
The mall shut down in January 2023. Interior demolition began the next month, followed by the exterior in March.
In total, more than 65 percent of the original building was taken down. Even during construction, the AMC theater, Barnes & Noble, and a few other businesses remained open.
The Uptown project is planned at about 2 million square feet. It will include around 800 residential units, roughly 400 hotel rooms, and 25 places for food and drink.
The project earned a top award at the Metropolitan Pima Alliance's 2025 Common Ground Awards, an example of how to redevelop aging commercial properties in the county.
The Astrie at 7450 N. Uptown Dr. will offer 157 units, from studios to two-bedroom apartments, with rents between $1,800 and $4,400 per month and move-ins starting in June 2026.
The Tempo by Hilton Tucson Uptown at 7400 N. Uptown Dr. completed its five-story frame in March 2026.
Valencia Hotel Group will operate the 144-room hotel, which is set to open in January 2027 and will include about 3,000 square feet of meeting space.
