Plans for the shopping center began in 1968. That year, Federated Department Stores proposed a retail complex on an approximately 80-acre site at the northeast corner of Durand Avenue and South Green Bay Road.
The land was tied to a former county institutional farm near Pritchard Park. Racine County approved the project in 1969. The land was sold in 1971. The development later moved ahead under Jacobs, Visconsi, and Jacobs.
By July 26, 1981, 68 specialty stores had joined the tenant list. Regency Mall held its grand opening on August 5, 1981, and Boston Store and Bergner-Weise were the main anchor stores.
Target had already opened on the outparcel shortly before the mall opened. JCPenney opened later in 1981. Sears opened in 1982.
The opening changed shopping patterns on Racine's south side right away. People who had once driven to downtown stores now had a new enclosed mall.
Retail activity shifted away from older shopping areas, and downtown Racine lost significant customer traffic after the mall opened.
Regency Mall: Anchors, Cinema, and CBL Buys In
Bergner-Weise gave way to Prange's in 1985, and Prange's gave way to Younkers in 1992. After Younkers later closed, Boston Store briefly ran a second location in the south wing.
That space cycled through Steve & Barry's and then Burlington Coat Factory, the department store lineage at the south end fragmenting well before the bigger collapse of the 2010s.
At 5230 Durand Avenue, a cinema opened in early 1983 with six screens and expanded to eight screens and 1,600 seats.
Known as Regency Value Cinemas during its later years, it closed and was demolished in 2009.
CBL & Associates completed a large portfolio acquisition from the Richard E. Jacobs Group on January 31, 2001.
On that date, Regency Mall was 918,000 square feet, with Boston Store, JCPenney, Sears, and Younkers anchoring the ends and middle.
Nearly a million square feet of enclosed retail, four department stores, and a real claim to being one of the larger enclosed centers in southeastern Wisconsin.
Within less than two decades, all four of those anchors would be gone.
Three Big Stores Leave in Three Years
In 2011, Gap closed its Regency Mall store after 30 years at the mall. At the time, that closing did not look like a major crisis. The anchor store closings that came next were much more serious.
In October 2013, Sears announced that its Regency store and auto center, which had been open since 1982, would close in January 2014.
In early 2015, JCPenney announced that its Regency store would close. That closing eliminated 77 jobs: 46 full-time positions and 31 part-time positions.
In July 2015, Regency Mall announced that Dunham's Sports would take over the former Sears space, which covered 89,000 square feet.
By 2022, the former JCPenney space had been split up among Ross Dress for Less, Party City, and Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft.
Discount stores, fitness centers, and craft stores could fill large spaces, and they helped keep the corridor active. But they did not do what the department stores had done.
The old anchors brought in shoppers who walked through the full building, stopped at smaller stores, and helped support the mall's interior businesses.
The mall was still open, but the part that had once made it a destination was already gone.
Hull Property Group Takes Over for About $9.5 Million
CBL sold Regency Mall to Hull Property Group, a Georgia mall management firm, in 2016 for about $9.5 million.
A property that had defined retail in southeastern Wisconsin was now valued below what most of its original anchor stores had cost to build.
Mural walls went up over vacant storefronts, and updated ceilings, lighting, carpet, bathrooms, and exterior work followed.
None of it addressed the structural problem - too many vacant spaces, not enough tenants - but Hull was clearly planning to hold and eventually do something larger with the property rather than walk away.
Boston Store closed in 2018 as part of the wider Wisconsin Bon-Ton collapse. In March 2020, Burlington left its Regency space and reopened across from the mall in a former Toys R Us building.
That departure removed the last substantial tenant from the old anchor corridor.
By 2022, about 60 percent of the enclosed mall was vacant. Target still operated on the property as an outparcel, untouched by the deterioration inside the building.
Hull had kept the place from collapsing entirely, but at 60 percent vacancy, continuing as a conventional shopping mall was no longer an option.
A $39 Million Public Commitment to Racine's Mall
In 2022, Racine created Tax Incremental District No. 30, a blighted-area TID that covers about 138 acres around Regency Mall and the surrounding retail area.
The project plan listed the expected costs: about $4.97 million for tearing down buildings, $4.22 million for fixing structures and updating the inside, $6.5 million for work on the land, and about $5 million to help move tenants and set up new spaces.
By April 2023, the city had finalized a $39.4 million incentive package under a pay-go arrangement.
Phase I included a grocery supercenter and a gas station. Phase II called for about 280 apartments and a new retail center. The final phase added five restaurants and a retail outparcel.
The cost schedule also included buying the Boston Store building, moving tenants still operating in the mall, and tearing down about 400,000 square feet of the existing mall.
The expenditure period runs through September 2044. The district ends in September 2049, and 2050 is the last collection year.
This was not a short-term incentive. Racine committed to a long-term public obligation tied to the distressed Regency Mall area.
When Part of Regency Mall Came Down on Durand Avenue
In March 2024, workers began tearing down the eastern portion of Regency Mall.
Excavators pulled apart the old anchor wing, the same part of the mall where Boston Store had once drawn thousands of shoppers from across Racine County.
The businesses that were still open had already been moved to the western end earlier. Behind the construction barrier, 400,000 square feet of retail space was being demolished.
People could still walk through the part of the mall that remained open - Ross, Planet Fitness, Dunham's Sports, Bob's Discount Furniture, and a few jewelry counters - while demolition was happening on the other side of the wall.
One half of the building was still being used for stores selling shoes, jewelry, and gym memberships. The other half was being torn down and removed.
Woodman's Opens and the Old Name Goes Away
A 243,500-square-foot Woodman's Food Market was built on the cleared site at 5430 Durand Avenue. The grocery supercenter stands where the old anchor wing once stood.
Woodman's opened its Racine store on August 14, 2025. A grand opening celebration followed on September 6, and the ribbon-cutting took place on September 9.
The store operates 24 hours a day. It includes a gas and lube center, liquor store, car wash, online ordering, sushi bar, self-checkouts, and EV charging.
It is the chain's 20th location. The opening brought hundreds of jobs to the corridor.
In November 2025, the owners changed the name of the property to Pritchard Park Mall.
The new name tied the site to nearby Pritchard Park and the housing development rising to the north. The Regency name had been attached to the site since August 5, 1981.
After the change, it was officially no longer the property's name. Even so, Regency Mall still appears first in local memory, in city documents connected to the TID, and in most coverage of the redevelopment.
Apartments Rise on the Old Theater Site
Hull's plan for 266 apartments at 5326 Durand Avenue moved through a city committee in April 2025. The site is the former theater property north of Target.
The project included five three-story buildings, seven carriage homes, underground parking in two of the buildings, a clubhouse, EV-ready infrastructure, and solar-ready roofs.
A public groundbreaking for Pritchard Park Place took place on June 24, 2025. The first units were scheduled for early 2026, with full completion expected in late 2026 or early 2027.
No tenants have been confirmed for the restaurant and retail outparcel phase. That part of the project depends heavily on what Pritchard Park Place produces.
A full apartment complex would add a built-in group of nearby residents, and that resident base affects whether retailers decide the corridor is worth leasing.
Notable Milestones
1981 - Regency Mall opens on August 5, anchored by Boston Store and Bergner-Weise. Target opens on the property just before the mall, and JCPenney opens later that year.
1982 - Sears opens, completing the mall's four major early anchors.
2011 - Gap closes after 30 years at the mall.
2013 - Sears closes its Regency store and auto center in October.
2015 - JCPenney closes in January, cutting 77 jobs. Dunham's Sports takes the 89,000-square-foot former Sears space in July.
2016 - Hull Property Group buys Regency Mall.
2022 - Racine creates Tax Incremental District No. 30, covering about 138 acres around the mall and nearby retail. The redevelopment plan includes demolition, a grocery store, apartments, restaurants, and new retail.
2023 - The city finalizes a $39.4 million pay-go incentive package for the redevelopment.
2024 - Demolition begins in March on roughly 400,000 square feet of the eastern half of the mall.
2025 - Plans for 266 apartments at 5326 Durand Avenue move forward in April. Groundbreaking for Pritchard Park Place takes place on June 24.
2025 - Woodman's opens at 5430 Durand Avenue on August 14. A grand-opening celebration follows on September 6, with a ribbon-cutting on September 9.
2025 - The property is renamed Pritchard Park Mall on November 20.
Pritchard Park Mall (former Regency Mall)
Shopping mall in Racine, WI
Address: 5538 Durand Ave, Racine, WI 53406
Opened: August 5, 1981
Developer: Jacobs, Visconsi, and Jacobs Company
Owner: Hull Property Group
Floor area: 1,040,490 sq ftClosest cities:
Kenosha, WI
Burlington, WI
Oak Creek, WI
South Milwaukee, WI
Franklin, WI
Cudahy, WI
Greenfield, WI
Zion, IL
