Pembroke Mall breaks ground and opens
In March 1965, construction crews began work on a regional shopping center along Virginia Beach Boulevard.
Plans called for a 550,000-square-foot enclosed mall anchored by Sears and Miller & Rhoads, both confirmed before building began.
Named Pembroke Mall by its developers, the complex was pitched as the first indoor retail venture of its kind in Hampton Roads.
During the summer, the framework of steel and truss took form as terrazzo flooring spread beneath, running through the flat corridor uniting dozens of shops.
By March 1966, twenty-one shops were ready for the first customers.
Woolworth operated near the concourse center, while spaces for the two anchors were still under preparation.
Local papers described parking lots filled through the weekend as shoppers explored the new air-conditioned passages.
Sears and Miller & Rhoads opened later that year, completing the design that the developers had announced at the groundbreaking.
Each anchor connected directly to the interior walkway, giving visitors continuous access under one roof for the first time in the city.
As that first year ended, the mall was packed most days, familiar to anyone living nearby.
The success of its opening season set the stage for new additions that would soon broaden the site's appeal beyond shopping.
Screens and small tune-ups define early years
The UltraVision theater opened in 1971, standing just outside Pembroke Mall's enclosed walkways.
It was built by ABC Theatres and featured two large curved screens (became a twin in 1974) with seating that wrapped toward the projection booth.
The addition brought new life to the property, keeping the parking lot busy long after stores had closed.
Inside, the mall itself changed little.
Sears and Miller & Rhoads still anchored the two ends, their entrances spilling shoppers into a corridor of glass-fronted stores.
Mall floors of terrazzo were polished day after day, their smooth surface spotless by dawn.
The lighting stayed strong beneath the steel framework above.
After hours, maintenance teams traded panels and repainted trim, keeping the building fresh for morning shoppers.
In the 1970s, the mall was packed more often than not, its shops a mix of familiar franchises and homegrown names.
There were a few empty spots to rent.
Families wove through the aisles on weekends, teens made it their hangout, and the theater's glow held them till late.
As 1980 arrived, Pembroke Mall looked much the same as when it first welcomed shoppers.
The design still did its job, yet competition was creeping in, new centers with wider corridors and modern anchors.
The developers responded by launching long-delayed plans to build out.
Third anchor arrives, then anchor churn
An expansion opened in 1981 with a new wing built to house Rices Nachmans, a Norfolk-based department store.
The addition extended the mall's interior corridor and confirmed the center's regional status, giving it three major anchors for the first time.
Hess's took over the Rices Nachmans space later in the decade, continuing the department-store presence through a series of chain consolidations.
In 1990, Miller & Rhoads closed after decades in Virginia retail, leaving a large vacancy that was soon filled by Uptons.
The 1990s brought more turnover. Hess's became Proffitt's, and then Dillard's in 1998.
Uptons added Stein Mart as a neighbor in the mid-1990s, creating an off-price mix before those formats became common.
The long-standing Woolworth location went dark in 1997 as the company withdrew from retail.
By the close of 1999, Uptons was gone, stripping the mall of a major draw.
Vacant spots spread through the interior halls while small retailers moved in and out.
The complex continued to function, though management saw the need for a long-overdue refresh.
It had become obvious something had to give.
Developers went all in on a major renovation, one that would remake the mall's design and rewrite its list of tenants across the next ten years.
Remodel, partial demo, cinema exit, Target era
Renovation work started in 2003, replacing floor tiles, repainting interiors, and adding new exterior entrances for easier access from Virginia Beach Boulevard.
The refresh marked the first major investment since the early 1980s.
Kohl's opened in October 2003 in the former Uptons box, bringing a national general-merchandise chain to replace a vacant anchor.
Around the same time, restaurants began appearing on the mall's perimeter, including casual dining brands that faced the main road.
The attached Pembroke Mall Cinemas 8, which had served the property since the early 1990s, closed in 2011.
Its building was later demolished to make way for Target, a 138,500-square-foot store that opened in October 2012.
Target's arrival required removing portions of the north wing, including the old Dillard's structure.
In 2012, the small interior food court was taken out, replaced by exterior-facing shops and service tenants.
The following summer, a "Re-Grand Opening" brought Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse and Old Navy.
By August 2013, Pembroke Mall had reemerged as a hybrid center, blending enclosed retail with big-box and street-facing stores.
The redevelopment stabilized occupancy and reintroduced traffic.
Sears parcel split powers an off-price cluster
In 2015, Sears Holdings transferred ownership of its building to Seritage Growth Properties, which immediately began subdividing the large anchor box.
The plan created smaller frontages for several tenants and added outparcels along Virginia Beach Boulevard.
Nordstrom Rack, The Fresh Market, and DSW leased new spaces within the former Sears footprint, while the detached auto center was demolished for a freestanding REI.
The transformation repositioned the mall's western edge toward off-price and outdoor retail.
During this period, the mall's outward-facing restaurants expanded again, with Smokey Bones and Truist joining the new Seritage parcel.
These tenants operated independently from the main concourse, shifting the property's gravity toward its perimeter.
Sears announced its closure on June 28, 2018, and completed liquidation by September of that year.
The store's departure ended more than five decades of continuous operation.
At the close of 2018, Pembroke Mall was anchored by Target, Kohl's, and a cluster of off-price and specialty retailers.
The transformation of the Sears parcel proved the site could adapt, setting the stage for larger structural change.
Interior goes dark, name changes, plan locks in
By mid-2021, plans were advancing to remake the entire property as a mixed-use district.
In August, software firm Decisions LLC signed a lease for 52,600 square feet of office space in the former Sears building, confirming the site's first non-retail tenant.
On December 9, 2021, management notified the 48 remaining interior tenants that the enclosed mall would close.
Leases ended January 31, 2022, and the public entrances were locked the next morning.
Only Target, Kohl's, and the newer outparcel retailers remained open to customers.
By July 2022, the owners had decided the old name no longer fit.
Pembroke Mall was becoming Pembroke Square, a place planned to hold more than stores: new apartments, hotel rooms, and public spaces were coming with it.
By the end of that summer, the old concourse was mostly empty, its storefronts shut off behind sheets of drywall while construction crews worked along the outer ring.
The closure marked the end of nearly six decades of continuous retail operations under the Pembroke Mall name.
Its next chapter would begin with demolition and the first ground-up construction since the property's founding.
Demolition clears pads; first new uses open
Demolition began on March 25, 2024, with excavators removing roof sections and steel columns from the former interior corridors.
The process cleared several acres for new vertical construction under the Pembroke Square $200 million redevelopment plan.
Residents began moving into Aviva Pembroke later that year.
The senior living community held its public opening event on February 6, 2025, offering independent, assisted, and memory-care units in a seven-story building overlooking the former mall footprint.
On May 26, 2025, Fogo de Chão began serving guests, introducing a full-service restaurant and bar that now stands as the centerpiece of the dining section.
Picking Pembroke Square for its Hampton Roads entry showed that national dining groups saw promise in the site.
On September 3, 2025, Landmark Hotel Group broke ground on a 163-room Tempo by Hilton.
Construction began immediately after permits cleared, with the opening targeted for 2027.
By fall 2025, Pembroke Square operated as an active mixed-use district.
Target, Kohl's, and the off-price cluster continued trading, while cranes and crews built new phases around them.
The property that opened in 1966 as a mall now functions as a living construction site preparing for its next decade.
