Galleria is reborn as Citi Plaza
Thu, May 7, 2009
With a cascade of confetti, Galleria London was reborn as Citi Plaza this morning.
With hundreds of staff and shoppers gathered in the new atrium entrance on Wellington Street, the complex was officially relaunched after an eight-year makeover.
Lucas Blois of Arcturus Realty, managers of the complex, said the new mix of office, educational, service businesses and traditional retail makes sense for the downtown core.
“It is not about filling space but making use of space in a way that makes sense for our tenants and those who live and work in downtown London,” said Blois.
Blois noted the complex had its roots in Wellington Square, which opened in 1960 as North America’s first enclosed mall.
In 1989, after a $175 million reconstruction and expansion, Galleria London was born as an elite retail mall. But shoppers stayed away in the recession of the early 90’s and Galleria starting losing tenants.
The mall was at its lowest ebb in 2001 when it was purchased by the investment arm of Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension Plan, who held a mortgage on the property.
Eugene Fraser, vice-president of the investment fund, said the new owner made the tough decision to scrap the original concept of Galleria.
“We came to the grim realization that to achieve our goals it was necessary to eliminate over 400,000 sq. ft. of retail space, a task not appealing to any developer,” said Fraser.
Over the years, the vacant retail space has been filled with tenants such as Stevenson Hunt Insurance, satellite campuses of the University of Western Ontario and Fanshawe College and more recently Citi Cards Canada, the major office tenant.
The retail space on the south side has been extensively renovated and the northern retail portion will be completed next year.
Joe Serratore has operated a shoe repair business in the mall for 10 years and has just opened an environmentally friendly dry cleaning outlet nearby.
Serratore said the retail space has undergone a dramatic transformation and he credited Blois for helping remake the image of the mall.
“With the previous managers I was losing faith, but Lucas told me he could turn this around and I believed him,” he said.