When the Lights First Came On at Vista Ridge Mall
The glass atrium in The Vista still catches daylight the way it did in 1989, though now it falls across shuttered storefronts and an empty food court.
Once that light filtered down on weekend crowds, sales signs, and center court performances.
When Vista Ridge Mall opened that year, it did more than add square footage to the map of North Texas retail.
For much of the 1990s, it shaped the idea of things to do in Lewisville, Texas, drawing families from across the metroplex to its then-new Cinemark and wide corridors lined with national names.
The atrium that remains today isn’t just leftover architecture. It’s part of the reason longtime residents still refer to the place in the present tense.
Grand Opening and Early Leasing (1989–1990)
Vista Ridge Mall opened with a deliberate sense of scale. Developed by Homart Development Company alongside Herring Marathon Group and JCP Realty, the site launched with 74 stores and two anchors already in place: Sears and Dillard’s.
The ribbon cutting on October 4, 1989, was led by game show host Bob Eubanks. Other celebrity appearances followed across that opening weekend.
Cinemark debuted its 12-screen flagship theater just sixteen days later, on October 20, built into the center court. At the time, it was the largest theater in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
By March 1990, another 19 stores had joined, including The Gap, The Limited, and Casual Corner, pushing occupancy to 65 percent.
On August 1, 1990, JCPenney became the third anchor, completing its buildout less than a year after the mall’s launch.
The mall’s early momentum was also boosted by regional patterns in suburban growth along Interstate 35E and Round Grove Road.
Within two years, a fourth anchor, Foley’s, would further round out the layout, helping cement the mall’s early regional pull.
Shifting Tenants and the Anchor Realignment (2001–2016)
By the early 2000s, Vista Ridge Mall was already navigating a competitive retail scene that had changed quickly.
Grapevine Mills opened in October 1997, drawing traffic toward newer retail models. Then, in August 2000, Stonebriar Centre opened in Frisco, pulling from the same shopper base.
Sales figures at Vista Ridge Mall and Collin Creek Mall both dipped in response.
Even as foot traffic thinned, the mall held onto its anchors. Foley’s transitioned to Macy’s in September 2006 after Federated Department Stores rebranded May Company properties.
That same year, Cinemark opened a new 15-screen location directly attached to the existing structure, replacing the original center-court setup from 1989.
Renovations in the early 1990s and recognition from design and retail associations had once helped bolster its position.
But by the end of this phase, the tenant list leaned heavily on national chains, already feeling pressure from broader retail changes.
Vista Ridge Mall kept its name and layout, but internally, leasing dynamics began to tilt toward discount models and event-driven traffic.
The shifts were visible to regular visitors, especially by the mid-2010s.
The Music City Mall Experiment (2017–2021)
In October 2017, Vista Ridge Mall was sold at an online auction for $17.3 million to ICA Properties. The new owner quickly renamed it Music City Mall, Lewisville, matching the company’s Odessa-based flagship.
The sale price came in well below its appraised $34.5 million, signaling broader valuation trends for malls of its class.
The rebranding was more than just signage. Live music began filling open areas seven days a week, a rare programming choice for retail space.
A Ten Commandments monument was installed in keeping with ICA’s practices at other properties.
On September 18, 2018, a grand re-opening event brought in television personalities and live performances, while other efforts centered on turning the mall into a regional arts hub.
Meanwhile, anchor turnover continued. Sears closed in September 2018 after being named in a national list of store closures. Zion Market filled that space in August 2019.
Dillard’s converted to a clearance-only format that same year and closed its interior mall entrance, limiting in-mall access.
JCPenney shut down by October 2020, followed by Macy’s in March 2021. That left the mall with no traditional department store access from inside the main corridors.
The property leaned heavily on events, festivals, and niche tenants to keep its internal traffic alive.
Retail Attrition and Structural Wear (2022–2023)
By 2022, tenant turnover had left Vista Ridge Mall with long stretches of unlit storefronts and a shrinking retail roster.
The impact was visible. Walkways that once carried food court overflow now led to empty retail pads and shuttered kiosks. Online photos from early 2023 showed broken escalators, a drained fountain, and cracked tile underfoot.
Reddit posts from mid-2023 suggested that only about 20 percent of the mall’s leasable space was active.
One user noted that even longtime tenants like Auntie Anne’s had closed, leaving behind faded signage. Though Cinemark and Zion Market remained open, daily foot traffic inside the main halls appeared light.
Events still took place on occasion, including the Dallas Comic Show and specialty expos, but few drew consistent commercial activity into the broader mall interior.
Ownership Transfer and Concept Transition (2022–2024)
In September 2022, ICA Properties sold the mall to 1000 South Vermont LLC. The new owner made quick moves to reset the site’s identity, beginning with the removal of Music City signage and the Ten Commandments monument.
By November, mall directories listed the new name as The Vista, though some external signage still showed “Vista Ridge Mall.”
No large-scale remodel began immediately, but public-facing elements changed. Live music events were discontinued, and performance stages were dismantled.
Staff and tenants were notified that the rebranding was permanent, with early communication pointing toward long-term redevelopment plans.
The Vista’s redevelopment concept started formally in March 2022, when the Lewisville City Council approved a planning agreement with Catalyst Urban Development.
The Lewisville City Council held its 2023 retreat in March, where they revealed concept drawings of a mixed-use layout that would preserve parts of the original mall.
The updated vision kept Cinemark, Dillard’s Clearance, Zion Market, and the glass atrium while proposing residential, retail, and dining spaces in newly constructed zones.
Although no demolition had yet started, the city acknowledged that it was coordinating with the new owners and had hired consultants to adjust the original 2023 redevelopment framework by early 2024.
In February 2024, the city called a bond election to help fund supporting infrastructure. Voters approved the measure on May 4, with 77 percent in favor.
The bond included $32 million for street construction, utilities, drainage, erosion control, and related engineering work around the mall’s perimeter.
While the funding doesn’t guarantee construction, it removed a barrier that was long considered a bottleneck, clearing the way for a development agreement if the private side commits to breaking ground.
Quicklotz, a liquidation outlet, relocated into the former JCPenney building on November 1, 2024, adding a large-format retailer back into the roster.
The Vision Remains, But the Timeline Slips
By early 2025, the city’s position hadn’t changed. The Vista remained on the Council’s list of top redevelopment priorities.
At the February retreat, staff confirmed that 1000 South Vermont LLC continued to work with its architects and engineers to adjust earlier plans.
The bond funds approved in 2024 had not yet been activated through construction contracts. Although the city had described the investment as foundational, there was still no development agreement on record.
The Lewisville 2025 Vision Plan, which originally framed this project as part of a broader city strategy, is now under revision.
In June, city officials began gathering public feedback to update the initiative for the next decade and create a “Lewisville 2035” vision plan.
On the mall property itself, however, there has been no visible change.
As of June 2025, The Vista held 59 operating businesses and four active anchors (Dillard’s Clearance, Zion Market, Cinemark, Quicklotz) according to the mall site. One anchor space, the former Macy’s, remained vacant.
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More empty promises. Malls are dying. This place has been brain dead on life support in the ICU for years. Outside the movie theatre and Zion Market, there is nothing of value here. The Dillards is a clearance store full of crap there dopey buyers can’t pawn off on anyone else. It’s a glorified thrift store. This place is like a diabetic leg being cut off one toe at a time. Turn it into a medical plaza or a hotel. Retail has been destroyed by Amazon.
Appreciate your comment, it captures the pressure retail spaces are under in a world that keeps shifting online. It’s a reminder that if places like these are going to last, they’ll need more than foot traffic. They’ll need fresh ideas and a reason to stick around.
Loved this mall. It needs more clothing stores like it had many years ago. Praying that more retail stores come. Also, needs lots of advertisement, media,etc., so people knows this mall still assist.
Thanks for chiming in. That kind of optimism and steady support means more than it gets credit for, especially for a place like the mall that’s still trying to find its footing.
Can’t wait to see the new changes, most people still call it vista ridge mall so the vista is great.
Thanks for sharing that. It’s clear the mall still means something to you, and that history doesn’t just vanish.
I loved this mall until we started losing the major dept. stores. Now it looks sad and empty, and they have even removed the beautiful American flag that used to fly in front of the mall. I don’t know how this location can ever recover.
Appreciate you saying that. Watching a place fade that once felt full is never easy. Still, there’s always a chance it finds its rhythm again, maybe not the same as before, but with a purpose that fits now.
I loved this mall since high school this area wouldn’t be same without it I loved the jewelery stores the hole mall .
Thanks for sharing that about The Vista. Spots like that aren’t just locations – they end up tied to moments, routines, and people. It’s those everyday ties that turn a place into a personal landmark.
I worked at a small retail store in this mall when it first opened in Oct 1988 (not 1989).
Thanks for sharing your memories of The Vista. You’ve probably got a dozen stories that tell more than any timeline ever could.