Malls · California
Palm Springs Mall
Palm Springs Mall opened 1959, declined, was demolished 2019, and site now controlled by College of the Desert for educational · summary, model-written
Solid = from the authors' map · outlined = public source · dashed = model-written, not yet reviewed by a person. Tap any value's source label to see where it came from.
Site profile6 elements · what this retrofit is built with · tap a chip for the evidence
Gottschalks
This site: Gottschalks wikipedia · all sites with thisKmart
This site: Kmart wikipedia · all sites with thisUniversity, hospital or church
This site: College of the Desert county-parcels · all sites with thisRedeveloped
This site: …demolished site extraction · all sites with thisEducation
This site: …new_use field extraction · all sites with thisHousing
This site: …ell the mall and had plans to develop the property for both residential and commercial use. extraction · all sites with thisNow
| Status | Demolishedextracted, unreviewed |
|---|---|
| Strategy | Redevelopedextracted, unreviewed |
| New uses | educationextracted, unreviewed |
| What is there now | demolished siteextracted, unreviewed |
| Retrofit year | 2019extracted, unreviewed |
| Redeveloper | College of the Desertextracted, unreviewed |
Planning
| Planning notes | In 2017, Michael Leife, a representative speaking on behalf of the mall owner, stated the owner did not want to sell the mall and had plans to develop the property for both residential and commercial use.extracted, unreviewed |
|---|
Deals and debt
| Date | Event | Price | Parties | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Sold | $9.2M closed | Haiming Tan | Wikipedia |
| Sold | $22.0M closed | College of the Desert | Wikipedia |
Securitised debt and public filers
Filings (2001 to date) that name “Palm Springs Mall” and “Palm Springs” (2 hits, first 2 sampled, 1 other filers such as tenants left out). Only weak matches to commercial-mortgage trusts: the mall may have backed a securitised loan, or may just be mentioned in the filing; several trusts usually means one loan split into pari-passu notes. Earliest trust filing in the sample 2001-12-24 (a sample date, not the issuance date); Whether the loan is still in the pool, in special servicing or repaid is in the trust's monthly distribution reports, which are not searchable here. Text matches, not a title search. Open the search · all trusts.
| Kind | Filer | Filings | Dates | Forms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CMBS trust (weak) | JP MORGAN CHASE COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE SECURITIES CORP | 1 | 2001-12-24 to 2001-12-24 | 8-K 1 |
Site context
| Attention: Wikipedia page views | 18,863 since 2015; 2,618 in the last 12 months (-10% vs the prior 12); peak 2021-04 with 587Wikimedia |
|---|
Summary, model-written
Palm Springs Mall began as an open‑air shopping center in 1959, was enclosed in 1965 with a J.C. Penney anchor, added a second anchor (Walker Scott) in 1970, and underwent a major renovation in 1986. Foot traffic declined in the 2000s, leading to tenant losses; after Haiming Tan bought the property in 2012 and the College of the Desert pursued a purchase in 2014, the owner refused to sell, and demolition started in 2019. The cleared site is now slated for educational use by the College of the Desert.
Why. The record shows declining foot traffic in the 2000s leading to tenant loss, the owner’s unwillingness to sell despite the College of the Desert’s interest, and the eventual acquisition and demolition for an educational campus.
Where it stands. The site is demolished and is now controlled by the College of the Desert, which purchased the property (see the deal notes indicating a sale to the College).
For a planner
- Precedent: conversion of a former mall to an educational satellite campus.
- Policy tools: none explicitly cited in the record.
- Open questions: what zoning or land‑use approvals were required for the educational use, and how the demolished site will be integrated into the surrounding community.
For a developer
- Site size: not specified in the record.
- Control: owned by the College of the Desert after its purchase (deal noted).
- Entitlement stage: demolition completed; new use planned as education.
- Constraints: no flood, transit, or environmental constraints are listed in the context layers.
- Market signals: no tract‑level data are provided.
What we do not know yet
- Exact year and price of the College of the Desert’s purchase are not given (deal lacks year).
- Site dimensions and parcel boundaries are missing.
- Any floodplain, transit access, or environmental restrictions are not described.
- Whether demolition is fully completed and any remediation work is unknown.
- Future educational programming details and timeline are not stated.
Generated by nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b on NVIDIA API via Hermes CT from the fields, parcels, deals and context layers on this page, with no outside knowledge. It is regenerated when the record changes and has not been checked by a person. How it is made.
Similar sites
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- Laguna Hills Mall, Laguna Hills, CA · Malls · same strategy: redevelop; also in CA
Elsewhere on the web
Pages with photos
- COD case over Palm Springs Mall approaches trial desertsun.com
Search images: Google · Bing · Commons · references: ULI case studies · Google Scholar
Multifamily screen
- retrofit already built
- closed or demolished site (sourced)
Inputs: record fields (size, status) and county Census ACS 2018–2023 figures (growth, rent). How the points work. Not a recommendation.
History and original facts
| Original developer | Ray Ryan and A.R. Simonextracted, unreviewed |
|---|---|
| Architect | Meyer and Kanner and Leitch and Cleveland |
| Anchors | Gottschalks, Kmart, J.C. Penney, Walker Scott, Buffums, Harris-Gottschalks |
| Census division | 9 · Pacific |
| Notes | Wikipedia categories: Demolished shopping malls in the United States |
Not yet recorded: acres, GLA, year opened. Know it? Tell us.
Background
Palm Springs Mall, formerly known as Palm Springs Shopping Center and Palm Springs Shopping Center Mall, was an enclosed shopping mall in Palm Springs, California. Originally constructed as an open air shopping center, the center would expand and be fully enclosed in 1965, which included the addition of a J.C. Penney. In 1970, Walker Scott would open up their own location at the mall, serving as its second anchor. In 1986, the mall went through a major renovation that added a food court, retail space, and a new exterior and interior design. By the 2000s, the mall saw a decrease in foot traffic, which caused tenants to move out of the mall. In 2014, College of the Desert offered the property owner to purchase the mall in order to turn it into a satellite campus. The owner refused to sell the property to the college, which resulted in both parties going to court. Subsequently, College of the Desert acquired the mall for $22 million. Demolition of the mall commenced in May 2019.
Excerpt from Wikipedia (authors and history), CC BY-SA 4.0. May be older than the record above.
Timeline
- 1959 Concept collaboration for shopping center
- 1965 Expansion and enclosure with J.C. Penney addition
- 1970 Walker Scott opens as second anchor
- 1986 Multi-million dollar renovation adds food court, retail space, Kmart, The Alley
- 2012 Haiming Tan purchases property for $9.2 million
- 2014 College of the Desert considers redeveloping as satellite campus
- 2017 Owner representative states owner does not want to sell, plans residential/commercial development
- 2019 Demolition of mall begins
Sources
- Wikipedia: Palm Springs Mall · supports: after notes, original developer, status, strategy
12 quoted sentences
oilman-turned-land developer Ray Ryan, along with the president of Seeterrra, Inc., A.R. Simon, collaborated on the concept of building a shopping center in Palm Springs, California.
Demolition of the mall began in May 2019 with construction to begin in 2023 for the first phase of the new campus.
Demolition of the mall began in May 2019.
In 2014, College of the Desert considered redeveloping the property and proposed the location be turned into a satellite campus.