It was one of those “coming soon” signs that generated a good bit of excitement when it first went up but as time passed and nothing came, it turned into a punch line. As still more time passed with nothing “coming” the sign was simply ignored. Originally, according to the sign, it was going to be a “regional power center and retail hub”. Then it was going to be a “regional lifestyle center”. Once you got past all the hype and slowed down all the spin, it was a mall and to a lot of folks, that meant we had arrived. Some imagined a variety of stores offering the latest fashion. Others imagined it would be more of an outlet center. Some envisioned a place for hanging out with friends. Others thought it would be built quickly, opened quickly and welcoming those yearning to part with their cash.

Well, not so fast...

The land around the sign sat undeveloped for years. It got to the point that some believed the only thing that would be built was the sign saying something was going to be built. But then, lo-and-behold, construction of the big-box-home-center store started right across the street from the coming–soon sign. Many were convinced that this was the start of “our mall”. No such luck. Big-box opened. Nothing else happened.

Behind the scenes, design work had been done and submitted to the county for building code compliance and zoning approvals. There were the usual changes required. Then there was an annexation of the land by the city and all of the compliance work had to be redone. More changes. More delay. Finally and as unceremoniously as possible, the construction started. Steel was going up. Cinder blocks were becoming walls. Door frames were being installed. Pipe was being laid. The one thing that was absolutely clear was that this was not the enclosed mall some had hoped for. Enclosed malls were just too expensive. Too expensive to build. Too expensive to heat. Too expensive to cool. Too expensive to maintain. “Our mall” looked more like an assembly of mid-sized strip centers with one big building on the south end and one on the north. The strip centers were between the big stores.

Two more big buildings were kind of between the two that were on the ends. One was a theater. The building continued. Stores opened. There was never a “grand opening” for the center as a whole. The individual stores rightly handled their own. This was something of an anti-climax. The unfortunate thing for “our mall” was its place on history’s timeline. The construction finished just at the start of the Great Recession.

Business was anything but booming. We seemed to have fewer business closures than the towns around us but we had nothing new. The big buildings were filled but occupancy didn’t spread to the smaller spaces. Most of those were (and still are as of this writing) empty shells. While most folks were pleased with the center, not everyone was happy. Some said the expansive blacktop of the parking lot added to the soaring summer temperatures. Some complained that this store or that store wasn’t there. Others complained about both the distance and time it took to get to the center. Those on the south side of town complained about the 15 or 20 minute drive. Others, who were closer, complained that “it’s all the way out across from the airport.” Be that as it may, the new shopping center attracted folks from all over.

And it still does.

But bolstering the economy of the town is far from its real importance. The construction of the shopping center, combined with the big-box-home-center store just to its south and the car dealer that moved just to the north side of the mall, changed the landscape. The area now occupied by concrete, steel and glass was once open desert. It ran west from the highway dropping on a relatively steady slope to meet the lake shore. There was creosote and cactus growing. Before development started, there were all kinds of desert-dwelling critters that made their homes there. Burros, big horn sheep and coyotes would make their way through the area to drink their fill at the lake. Natural washes guided the rain water dumped by infrequent but ferocious thunderstorms to the lake.

The rise of buildings and the flow of the relatively smooth asphalt of the parking lot formed the new landscape of this admittedly small part of the desert. The natural washes were replaced with man-made culverts and channels to take the rain water away from the center. Curbs and driveway crowns were designed specially to guide the water. Burros, big horn sheep and coyotes still go to the lake to drink but they have found other paths to follow. The descendants of the desert-dwellers that inhabited the area before the construction started have either adapted or moved on. The creosote and cactus now grow right to the edge of the mall property but no further.

The importance was found in watching this man-directed metamorphosis of just under 200 acres of desert; the progress made in going from open desert landscape to man-built landscape. The important thing was the changing, not the change. The importance was that the construction was becoming the new landscape of this small part of the desert. The individual workers and what they were doing was significantly unimportant. While one could easily get hung up on what Billy Bob or Sally Sue was doing, the real importance here was the cumulative effect.

There were times that it seemed progress was painfully slow. There were times that it seemed non-existent. At times it seemed the center had been abandoned rather than being built. There were other times it seemed progress was made in leaps and bounds; that the construction had taken on a life of its own. That the center was growing exponentially. The personally interesting aspect was that as the center grew more toward completion, it seemed to grow less interesting. It was progressing toward the banal, the mundane and the common. That perception was both the easiest to explain and the hardest to accept.

On the last day of photography, a security guard, unaware that permission had been given for the photography, worried about the ultimate use of the images. He was worried that “the design of the center would be copied.” All of the arguments could have been made- public place, offered public place, public view, public access, expectation of privacy, intent of use, etc., etc., etc. But it seemed at that point, in that moment, it simply wasn’t worth it anymore. The landscape had changed. The decisive moment of the place had really passed. What was going on now was simply the photographic mopping-up operation.

“Thank you, sir. I certainly didn’t mean to cause any difficulty. My car is right over there.” If this guard only knew how utterly common the center had become compared to what it was …

The focus of the center shifted. The interest was now the change-over from last season’s fashions or shoes or bedspreads or whatever. All of this… all of this concern over merchandise and posters and getting people out… all of which was now so terribly important absolutely pales in comparison to what was before… the change-over from the desert landscape to the man-made landscape created simply by the center’s building.

The Photographs

Anchor tenant, Dillard’s, south facade.

Anchor tenant, Dillard’s, ironwork.

Anchor tenant Dillard’s detail of ironwork.

General view of layout of strip centers.

Waste water piping being laid.

Strip center back wall with scaffolding.

Anchor tenant, Dillard’s, with shell of entry portico in place.

Area of southwest strip center.

Girder supports.

Northwest strip center with block layer’s scaffolding.

Anchor tenant Dillard’s wall supports with area of southwest strip center.

Strip center facade support.

Girders and supports start to form the roof of the northwest strip center.

Southeast strip center.

Southeast strip center.

Southeast strip center (reverse angle).

Northeast strip center.

Anchor tenant Walmart.

Anchor tenant Walmart.

Anchor tenant J.C.Penny’s.

Strip center west of anchor tenant Dillard’s.

Northeast strip center encased in scaffolding.

Northeast strip center leading to anchor tenant J.C. Penny’s.

Anchor tenant Walmart.

Anchor tenant Dillard’s entry portico.

Southwest strip center with architectural feature.

Strip center with partially finished facade.

Entrance to strip center with stone facade installed.

South side of anchor tenant Walmart.

Sidewalk installation, northwest strip center.

Slab form, anchor tenant Ultra Star Cinema.

Interior construction materials, anchor tenant J.C. Penny’s.

Southwest strip center nearing completion.

Anchor tenant Dillard’s at completion.

Southwest strip center (representative) at completion.