Vallco Shopping Mall (formerly called Cupertino Square and originally Vallco Fashion Park) is a mostly-demolished dead mall located in Cupertino, California, United States. Originally built as a single-story shopping mall in 1976 with a lower level added in 1988 and a third-level movie theater added in 2007, it was anchored for most of its existence by Macy's, Sears, and J.C. Penney. , the mall is owned by Sand Hill Property Co. and is almost entirely vacant, with Cupertino Ice Center (formerly the Ice Capades Chalet), Bowlmor Lanes, Benihana, and Fremont Union High School (FUHSD) Adult & Community Education as the only remaining tenants, all in the section to the east of Wolfe Road. The larger western portion of the main mall structure was demolished in August 2019 and the pedestrian overpass was demolished in March 2020; plans for the site include a mixed-use development consisting of office space, housing, and retail.
A plan by Sand Hill to rebuild Vallco as a mixed-use development with retail, housing, and office space topped by a green roof park was cancelled after Cupertino voters rejected Measure D on the November 2016 ballot. After obtaining community input in the planning phase, the project ran into significant push-back from citizens who wanted to freeze the site as retail-only, citing concerns about traffic and schools.
In 2018, Sand Hill proposed a revised development plan under the auspices of SB 35, which has been approved by Cupertino, containing 2,402 apartments, 1.8 million square feet of office space, and 400,000 square feet of retail. Of the apartments, half of them will be affordable with no government subsidies, which would quintuple Cupertino's affordable housing stock.
Major stores and activities
Vallco was formerly anchored by the following department stores: Macy's (originally Bullock's, then Emporium and later Emporium-Capwell) (closed March 15, 2015) Sears (closed October 4, 2015) J. C. Penney (closed April 8, 2016) I. Magnin (closed 1992, later became Express and finally Dynasty Seafood Restaurant on its lower level) AMC Theatres also left the mall on March 22, 2018. Currently, the primary attractions are Bowlmor Lanes and Cupertino Ice Center. Benihana remains active at the mall in its original location, and the Fremont Union High School District operates an adult school in the mall's former food court. All of the current occupants have exterior entrances; the interior hallways of the mall have been closed to public access since late 2018.
Vallco also formerly hosted the Pacific Coast Farmers' Market in the parking lot behind J. C. Penney. The market's last day at Vallco was December 30, 2016, after which it relocated to nearby Creekside Park.
History
Origins and expansion
In the early 1970s, the Cupertino city council held public hearings on the possible locations of a regional shopping center in the city. After it decided the city could only support one center, the Vallco group found itself competing with another group led by orchard owner Paul Mariani Jr. In 1973, the city council decided it wanted the regional shopping center on the edge of the city and gave the proper zoning to Vallco.
Vallco Fashion Park held its grand opening at 6:00pm on September 1, 1976. In its first several years, the mall's main walkway was punctuated by several parks showcasing aspects of local history, ranging from apricots to Klystron tubes. Vallco was one of the largest shopping centers in Silicon Valley and soon drew customers from all over the region.
One of the early features of the mall was the ice skating rink attached to the shopping center. The Ice Capades Chalet, open for almost ten years, began to encounter trouble in 1986, when proposals to close it and replace it with movie theatres emerged (not to be confused with the more recent AMC Theatres, which was instead built on a new third level over the central portion of the mall). By June 3, 1988, the rink faced imminent closure, until the Cupertino City Council stepped in and kept the rink open when faced with vocal protest. At the time, the ice rink was one of two year-round skating rinks nearby – the other being the Ice Capades Chalet at San Mateo Fashion Island.
It was also the first place that sold San Jose Sharks merchandise, before the SAP Center (formerly called the San Jose Arena and the HP Pavilion) was built.