Westland Mall Opens Its Doors in Hialeah
Westland Mall in Hialeah, Florida, opened in the summer of 1971. Developed by Joseph Meyerhoff, it stood beside a standalone Burdines department store that was already in place and operating at the time.
From the start, the mall had three anchors: Sears, Burdines, and JCPenney. Shoppers could stop at a medium-sized cafeteria or head to Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor for sundaes.
The one-level design stretched across the lot with surface parking surrounding it. Its official address was 1675 West 49th Street, and it quickly drew traffic from across the Miami metropolitan area.
Inside the newly built structure, the atmosphere was centered on retail convenience. Burdines, already a growing Florida chain, gave the mall a strong regional draw.
Sears and JCPenney provided steady options for clothing, appliances, and general goods. At the same time, smaller stores filled the corridors with specialty offerings.
Dining played a role too: the cafeteria and Farrell's gave visitors places to linger, marking Westland as more than just a shopping stop.
These early choices created steady customer traffic and set the foundation for a mall that would later average 10,000 daily visitors.
That level of movement made Westland one of the anchors of retail life in Hialeah during its first years of operation. Beyond the stores, the practical setup mattered.
The mall was a single story except for its anchors, which had expanded layouts. Parking was surface only, designed to handle the traffic coming in off West 49th Street.
In the early 1970s, enclosed shopping centers were still new in South Florida, and Westland Mall's arrival gave Hialeah its own enclosed retail space.
For families in the area, it added a local entry to the growing list of things to do in Hialeah, Florida.
Its first years were defined by the steady rhythm of daily shoppers and the strong pull of its three original anchors.
The Mall Finds Its Footing, 1970s–1980s
By the mid-1970s, Westland Mall had become a regular stop for Hialeah families. The draw was convenient: clothing, appliances, and gifts in one place.
Weekdays brought office workers, retirees, and teenagers cutting through after school, keeping the building active outside of weekends.
Burdines was adding stores across Florida, and the Westland location carried the same wide floor plan and promotions found in Miami and Orlando.
Sears covered appliances, auto service, and tools, while JCPenney leaned on lower-cost clothing and housewares.
Each store had a different pull, and together they gave the mall steady traffic.
Restaurants and leisure spots filled in around them. Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour was still the birthday-party destination, with drums and sirens for every sundae.
The cafeteria drew shoppers who wanted a full meal before heading home.
By the early 1980s, Burger King and other national fast-food outlets had been added.
That change meant people stopped in just to eat, and the food court became another reason to pass through the mall.
National Brands Leave Their Mark, 1990s
By the early 1990s, Westland Mall had begun to mirror the national shift toward chain retail.
Storefronts that once held local shops now carried names seen across regional malls. Brands like Foot Locker, The Limited, and RadioShack moved in.
Mall directories became more uniform from one city to the next, and Westland followed that pattern.
Burdines kept its full department store footprint and continued to anchor one end of the mall. It held onto a strong customer base throughout Florida.
Sears still operated both levels of its store, with rows of appliances, tools, and catalog services.
JCPenney stayed in place with apparel and home sections aimed at working families. The anchors hadn't changed, but the stores between them had.
The food court was also filled. McDonald's and Subway added recognizable options to the lineup.
Around this time, sit-down restaurants appeared just outside the mall entrances, Chili's and Outback Steakhouse among them.
These additions gave shoppers more reasons to stay longer.
A New Name on the Front Doors, 2005–2012
In 2005, the Burdines store at Westland Mall was rebranded as Macy's, following the chain-wide merger under Federated Department Stores.
In November 2007, Westland Mall changed hands. The Westfield Group purchased the property from the Mills Corporation and renamed it Westfield Westland.
It joined a portfolio of shopping centers rebranded under the company's global template, with signage and marketing updated to reflect the new name.
Westfield managed the mall for the next five years. During this period, store layouts remained mostly stable, and the three anchors held their ground.
The shift focused more on branding than redevelopment.
Mall directories, shopping bags, and banners adopted the Westfield look, using red lettering and a standardized logo across properties in the U.S. and abroad.
In 2012, Starwood Capital Group acquired the mall. The new owner dropped the Westfield label and brought the original name back.
Westland Mall returned to local branding, and the reversion marked the end of the property's brief time under international identity.
Management and operations shifted with the sale, but the mall's layout and tenants remained largely unchanged.
The Sears Decline, 2015–2020
In 2015, Sears Holdings spun off more than 200 properties into a new real estate investment trust called Seritage Growth Properties.
The Sears at Westland Mall was part of that deal.
Not long after, the company downsized its footprint inside the mall. The first floor was carved up, and new tenants took over the space.
Forever 21 opened a store in the former Sears section, and Xfinity added a retail location nearby.
The rest of the store remained under Sears control for a few more years. Its appliance floor, clothing departments, and seasonal sales continued, but foot traffic declined.
Shoppers moved toward other anchors or newer standalone retailers outside the mall.
On November 7, 2019, Sears announced it would shut down the Westland location as part of a broader plan to close 96 stores nationwide.
The doors closed in February 2020. The store had been one of the original anchors since 1971.
After its departure, the building sat empty, marking the first time the mall carried a vacant anchor space in nearly five decades.
The Westland Plaza Plan, 2024–2025
In April 2024, Hialeah's city council approved the first reading of a plan to redevelop the former Sears site and surrounding parcels at Westland Mall.
The project, known as Westland Plaza, was submitted by Codina Partners in collaboration with Centennial Real Estate.
It marked the first formal step toward converting the dormant anchor space into a mixed-use development.
The approved proposal includes 815 apartments, 15 townhomes, and 32,600 square feet of commercial space. It also calls for two parking garages and a 1.5-acre public plaza.
The new buildings will replace the former Sears footprint, the nearby outparcel, and the adjacent parking.
Final plans set aside space for future tenants but did not list names.
A second report published in May confirmed the approval and outlined the layout in more detail. According to that version, the garages would offer over 1,500 total spaces.
The new residential units would be built around a central public green, with amenities to be announced at a later stage.