MALL AT WENTZVILLE CROSSINGS: WENTZVILLE, MO
Zack Trumpet's Commentary:
Posted March 21, 2005 (user submitted)
The Mall at Wentzville Crossings is located in Wentzville, Missouri. The
mall looks like it was built in the 70's or 80's. I've visited this
mall twice once in 1997 and once in 2003. In 1997 the mall was hopping
and had stores like Burlington Coat Factory, Supermarket of Shoes, and
a Dollar Tree. In 2003, the mall had 3 stores and one of those was
closing that day. The stores that were staying open were Old Time Pottery,
and a furniture store. The store that was closing was a flea market. Since
2003, the furniture store has closed.
The city of Wentzville also owns a section of the mall that they use for
an event center. The event center has a caf�, which is only open with
the event center.
In 2000 there were plans to build a Bass Pro Shop inside the mall, but
the deal fell through because the lack of cooperation from the owner. So,
Bass Pro built there own store in St. Charles County.
Links:
www.wentzvilleexpo.com - City's Expo Site showcasing the mall
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Gretchen’s Commentary:
User submitted Jul 2007Here is an update of the mall at wentzville crossings in Missouri. It is slated to be redeveloped as a christian nightlife entertainment complex. Here are some articles.
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
http://newsletters.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stcharles/story/CCB58BE30ED55A07862573160012BEEF?OpenDocument
From the O'Fallon Journal:
http://ofallonjournal.stltoday.com/articles/2007/03/03/news/sj2tn20070303-0304stc_club_1.ii1.txt
From the Suburban Journal:
http://suburbanjournals.stltoday.com/articles/2007/03/31/news/sj2tn20070327-0328stc_club_1.ii1.txt
The new website (coming soon):
www.exodusstl.com/
Thanks for the great website!
Gretchen
Kyle Muldrow’s Commentary:
User submitted Jul 2007The Mall at Wentzville Crossings has been purchased by two brothers to house their business, National Auto Warranty. They are also planning to open a Christian entertainment center and lease out part of the site to a church. Here's the story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
http://tinyurl.com/24u45d
Mike Batchelor’s Commentary:
User submitted Mar 2007Major redevelopment has been taking place at the old Belz/Mall at Wentzville Crossing Property; all the parking lots have been repaved, and the building has recieved a new roof and a fresh coat of paint. Part of the former outlet mall has been converted to offices for National Auto Warranty, who has purchased the property. The other part, is, according to a recent article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, which I have pasted here, to become a Christian music venue.
Old mall to house Christian music club
By Jessica Bock
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/24/2007
WENTZVILLE — In a decades-old and mostly empty mall, two brothers want to open a community entertainment center they say will be unlike any other in the St. Louis region.
Picture a nightclub where patrons can hear national Christian acts in a nonalcoholic and smoke-free setting. Add to that a bowling alley, rock climbing wall, coffeehouse and skate park in the same building.
The property, first known as the Belz Factory Outlet Center and later renamed the Mall at Wentzville Crossings, had a pothole-filled parking lot and was nearly vacant when Darain Atkinson, 42, and Cory Atkinson, 37, bought it last March to house their business, National Auto Warranty Services.
"We didn't have any idea what we wanted to do with it at first," Darain Atkinson said. "With our Christian faith and our background, we wanted a place where people could go with their family without smoking and drinking." Advertisement
And based on similar recreation and entertainment venues in other parts of the country, the Atkinsons think their $5 million community center could be popular in St. Charles County.
"There is nothing like that in this area, and I believe we are going to be very successful," said Darain Atkinson, who has experience in bar and restaurant management. "We want people to come in and be totally blown away and wowed."
Success in Nashville
The brothers are basing their faith in their plan on the success of places such as Rocketown in Nashville, Tenn. The 40,000-square-foot entertainment center has an indoor skate park, coffee bar and three stages. It is the brainchild of Christian music star Michael W. Smith.
Since opening in downtown Nashville about four years ago, Rocketown has attracted 100,000 to 125,000 visitors each year, development director Audra Davis said. Although the club's target age group is 12- to 20-year-olds, the venue hosts shows for all ages that are smoke- and alcohol-free, she said.
At first, Rocketown had a difficult time attracting bands because some groups feared they wouldn't sell as many tickets with smoking and alcohol restrictions, Davis said. But after booking a few big names for successful concerts, the venue and its staff built a good reputation with musicians, she said.
Now, Rocketown staffers enjoy lending their knowledge and experience as their venue becomes a model to developers such as the Atkinsons.
Davis said: "We've had, literally, hundreds of folks contact us who wanted to do something similar in their community. It's been fun to share our experience and kind of create a network of organizations trying to do this and make an impact for teens. For adults, I think it's great that there's a place where you don't have to worry about drunk folks being around while you are trying to enjoy a concert."
Other inspiration for the Atkinsons' community center is Club 3 Degrees in Minneapolis and the Bridge in Joplin, a club in southwestern Missouri that also combines entertainment, recreation and Christianity.
Don Sanders, one of the ministers at Harvester Christian Church in St. Charles, said some of his parishioners would probably make the drive to Wentzville to see national Christian music artists in a more intimate setting than the Family Arena, which has hosted groups such as MercyMe.
"I would hope that it would work," Sanders said. "I would think the community would welcome and want a place where you can get a positive message and connect with people."
A struggling mall
In Wentzville, the Atkinsons' building had a poor history with retail. It opened in 1983 as the Belz Factory Outlet Center. It originally housed 48 stores, including Old Time Pottery and the Burlington Coat Factory. Burlington cited declining business when it left the complex in 2001.
The complex was renamed the Mall at Wentzville Crossings in 1997. Recently, it had been called the Wentzville Crossings Exposition and Convention Center and hosted events such as gun and motorcycle shows.
The Atkinsons bought the building for $5.9 million for space for their growing company. National Auto Warranty Services uses 180,000 square feet of the 360,000-square-foot building. Since more than 350 employees began working there, crews have resurfaced the parking lot, added landscaping and repainted the exterior.
The Wentzville Board of Aldermen is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the final development plan for the community center. The Christian music club could be open by September or October, Darain Atkinson said.
"It's going to be a great place that people can go and listen to live music, local bands and nationwide bands," he said. "We are striving for big-time acts."
Shawn Bailey’s Commentary:
User submitted Aug 2006The Mall At Wentzville Crossings was completely vacant when I visited in August 2006. The grounds are mostly accessible, with a few stray parking blocks laid in a manner to obstruct the entrances. Most of these have been pushed aside leading to full access to the area. A tour of the mall lot reveals a rather unattractive mall design probably from the early 1980's with few flourishes. There seemed to be no main entry point as all of the entrances looked about the same. The decorative stones that line the pillars by the doors have been removed at some of the entrances. All signage for the mall is completely gone. A glance through the front doors reveal that the inside corridors have been gutted for new construction. The parking lot is actually well maintained and appears to have been recently upgraded. Most of the landscaping has been neglected.
My memories of this mall are rather poor, I only visited maybe once as a child in the mid 1980's. It doesn't seem like a typical older mall that would inspire nostalgic feelings unless the inside was more ornate than the outside. The Wentzville area is actually experiencing rapid growth, as urban sprawl continues to expand the boundaries of the St. Louis region. Most of the growth seems to be farther West than this location, which probably has not inspired another owner to consider refurbishing it.