Retail Launch and Lot Lines — The Opening of Montclair Plaza
In early November 1968, Montclair Plaza opened its doors in Montclair, California.
It wasn’t the first shopping center in the Inland Empire, but at 600,000 square feet and $50 million in development costs, it was built to be the largest in the area at that time.
The mall sat on a 120-acre lot with parking for 6,000 vehicles.
Its design came from the Los Angeles-based architecture firm Burke, Kober, Nicolais & Archuleta.
The developer behind the project was Ernest W. Hahn, whose name became common in Southern California real estate during the second half of the 20th century.
Hahn’s company handled both the financing and general contracting.
At launch, Montclair Plaza featured 69 stores, all located on a single level.
The scale and layout reflected the mid-century idea of destination shopping—easy parking, central walkways, and a mix of anchors and junior department stores.
There were three main anchors. JCPenney opened in an 189,000-square-foot building at one end of the mall.
The Broadway occupied a 142,000-square-foot space on the east side, and the May Company held the west end with 150,000 square feet.
Those three department stores, common in many regional malls at the time, each had separate architects.
Charles Luckman and Associates designed The Broadway. Welton Becket and Associates handled the May Company.
Burke, Kober, Nicolais & Archuleta designed the JCPenney building along with the smaller interior shops.
The mall wasn’t isolated. Just across the parking lot, on the northeast side of the property, was a 77,400-square-foot strip center.
That secondary development included United California Bank, a Van de Kamp’s bakery, a supermarket, a drugstore, and Crocker Bank.
A General Cinemas theater complex was also active at the time.
By the end of 1968, Montclair Plaza had established itself as a shopping center that drew traffic from across San Bernardino County.
For anyone looking for things to do east of Los Angeles, California, it offered a consolidated retail option in a part of the state that was still developing its commercial identity.
Expansion, Rebranding, and Anchor Store Shuffles
Seventeen years after its debut, Montclair Plaza added a second level.
The expansion opened on October 30, 1985. Sears became the fourth anchor that same year, moving from Indian Hill Mall about three miles away.
The Sears footprint stretched across three floors, unlike the rest of the mall, which maintained two.
This shift was a physical change—and also a practical one.
Department stores were still central to the mall format in the 1980s, and Sears brought in a customer base familiar with its catalog and appliance sections.
In May 1986, Nordstrom opened its first location in San Bernardino County at Montclair Plaza.
At the time, Nordstrom was gradually building out its Southern California network.
Adding this store to Montclair reinforced the mall’s status as a regional player, especially with middle- and upper-tier shoppers.
The 1990s brought more brand shifts. May Company rebranded to Robinsons-May in 1993.
The Broadway—once a mall anchor at several Southern California centers—closed in 1996, and Macy’s took over the space. But that setup didn’t last.
In 2006, Macy’s shifted to the former Robinsons-May space, consolidating operations after its corporate parent, Federated Department Stores, merged the two chains.
While the buildings stayed largely the same, the store names on the doors changed more than once in a decade.
Each adjustment responded to the time’s retail trends—department store consolidations, regional sales data, and larger shifts in consumer spending.
None of it happened overnight but taken together; those years reshaped how Montclair Plaza functioned on both levels.
In February 2014, CIM Group purchased the property.
Ownership transfer came with expectations. A decade earlier, large retail centers were under different pressures.
By 2014, buyers like CIM were looking to reposition older malls rather than replace them outright.
The groundwork for those later changes started here.
Renovation and the Shift to Mixed-Use Entertainment Retail
By the end of 2015, Montclair Plaza had a new name: Montclair Place.
The rebranding became official in November. According to CIM Group announcements at the time, the change wasn’t only about signage.
It reflected plans to update both the tenant mix and the mall’s design.
One early step came with the addition of the AMC DINE-IN Montclair Place 12.
The theater project replaced the original Broadway building footprint.
Announced in March 2018, the 55,000-square-foot venue introduced reserved seating, food service at seats, and a more modern setup than the General Cinemas complex the mall had opened with decades earlier.
It was the first indoor movie theater to open in Montclair in nearly 20 years.
The theater finally opened in 2021.
Renovation didn’t stop there. New leases brought in national chains like Forever 21, Spectrum, and Pandora.
An 11,000-square-foot indoor playground called Kids Empire opened during this period as well.
Restaurants began to fill in spaces once reserved for auto shops or older retail.
Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar opened in December 2019 in the former Goodyear building near the parking lot.
WinWings launched nearby, next to an existing Panda Express.
Tenant Losses, Incidents, and Operational Challenges
Retail space at Montclair Place shifted in 2020 when two longtime anchors shut their doors.
Sears had already announced its closure on November 7, 2019.
The Montclair location was part of a larger corporate exit from in-person retail.
By February 2020, the store was closed. Less than three months later, Nordstrom announced its departure.
On May 7, 2020, the company stated it would close this store—one of many pulled back from mid-tier locations.
According to the retailer, the decision was part of a larger reassessment. Nordstrom kept several nearby outposts open.
Both closures left significant unoccupied space, which mall management then marked for redevelopment.
As of 2025, those former anchor sites are under consideration for new construction.
The mall also dealt with safety incidents over the last three years.
On May 19, 2022, a 16-year-old girl was stabbed in the parking lot. Police arrested an 18-year-old suspect.
On August 19, 2022, three people broke into a jewelry store inside the mall and stole merchandise valued at around $200,000.
The suspects left before security could intervene.
Another incident happened on February 2, 2023.
Police reports stated that a teenager was stabbed during a dispute in the parking area, and another—aged 15—was injured and later passed as a result.
Three other teens were taken into custody in connection with the event.
These events prompted calls for tighter security. Montclair police increased patrols, and mall security made operational adjustments.
Even with these issues, the mall remained open to the public.
Foot traffic rebounded in phases, helped by food outlets and event-based programming.
Mixed-Use Zoning and the Long-View Buildout Strategy
New development plans submitted to the City of Montclair outline a 20-year proposal known as the Montclair Place District Specific Plan.
The plan covers 104 acres and focuses on converting the current mall and surrounding parcels into a zone that supports commercial, residential, and public-use infrastructure.
According to city planning documents, the redevelopment calls for four new outdoor districts: Lifestyle Park, The Avenue, Town Square, and Fashion Park.
Each section has a different configuration.
The proposed construction includes roughly 209,000 square feet of new building space and four parking structures, which would add 736 new spaces.
The intent is to rework the site to support a balance of short-term visits and longer residential stays.
The plan does not entirely remove the existing Montclair Place footprint.
Instead, it extends the mall outward with more street-facing access points, outdoor entryways, and options for retail tenants who don’t want an enclosed mall lease.
These decisions track with other commercial real estate patterns, such as projects where older indoor centers add outdoor space without a full teardown.
Construction will be phased. No fixed timeline has been released, though individual components—like Main Event—have already launched.
Space, Events, and the 2025 Rollout at Montclair Place
In January 2025, Main Event Entertainment opened a 51,800-square-foot venue on the ground floor of Montclair Place, directly beneath the AMC DINE-IN Montclair Place 12.
This is Main Event’s first outpost in Southern California, and it offers a full set of indoor attractions—20 bowling lanes, laser tag, escape rooms, party rooms, and an on-site bar and restaurant.
The lease earned CoStar’s 2024 Inland Empire Lease of the Year award.
New development plans show how CIM intends to expand this model.
The company has proposed four new shopping districts: Lifestyle Park, The Avenue, Town Square, and Fashion Park.
Together, these would add 209,000 square feet of new building space and introduce outdoor entry points for future tenants.
Lifestyle Park is designed for flexible public use.
City filings describe space for live music, seasonal shows, farmers markets, and screenings.
These uses reflect a shift in how mall real estate is configured—less fixed retail and more rotating events.
Town Square and The Avenue are shaped around walking access, with space for both long-term leasing and short-term vendors.
Fashion Park, according to concept drawings, would mirror the existing enclosed wing but with exterior-facing storefronts.
Montclair Place continues to schedule seasonal activities.
One recent listing advertised a Spring Botanical LEGO Event set for May 3, 2025.
The layout, programming, and tenant mix at Montclair Place all point in one direction: more room for events, fewer walls between uses, and a timeline built around long-range leasing.
I’m so happy for Montclair Place which I grew up knowing as Montclair Plaza. As a teenager me and my friends pretty much grew up in this place in the 90s. It was always such an adventure to go down there since I lived way up in the hills in Upland. I’m shocked it’s still alive and doing well after the opening of 2 mega malls not far from it in Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga. I thought it was doomed after those 2 spots came. I can remember my parents would take us to “Black Angus” right next door after they bought a new refrigerator from Sears in the mall. LOL… good times! Live on Montclair Plaza ha ha ha!!!
A lot of folks didn’t expect it to last this long. But here it is. Still open. Still part of the local routine.
I look forward to this! I love this mall. Easy freeway access, movies, food, my beloved Macy’s and more. It’s a cozy clean mall for us locals. and great revenue for the city of Montclair.
Revenue is important—but so is the fact that people actually want to be there. That’s not something every city can say about its mall.