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City Has Big Plans For Dying Westminster Mall

WESTMINSTER, Colo. (CBS4) - Say goodbye to the old Westminster Mall. The struggling 34-year-old shopping center is now slated to be reborn as an urban downtown.

The Westminster Mall is located along US 36, the Boulder Turnpike, at Sheridan. It was once one of the most popular shopping centers in metro Denver. It opened in 1977 with 30 stores. Managers say in its heyday it grew to about 175.

But these days it's pretty much a ghost town. There were just 18 stores open on Tuesday and there were very few shoppers.

"It's just very sad," a shopper told CBS4.

"In the past few years, you know, it's been going downhill; stores closing," another shopper said.

"It did the typical evolution of a suburban shopping center," Westminster city manager Brent McFall said. "They really have about a 30-year lifespan."

Now the city will start over on the 108-acre site. A deal was cut to buy the property for $22 million. Westminster will tear down and "demall" the mall.

"Our plan really is for a mixed use urban center with a combination of retail and office and residential," McFall said.

The idea is to create a suburban downtown Westminster doesn't have. It was done at Lakewood's Villa Italia to make way for Belmar. And Southglenn Mall became the Streets of Southglenn.

"I like it. I think it's great. I like to shop outdoors at winter time; it's Christmasy," another shopper said. "I think it's nice and it will be a great improvement."

The hope is to select a developer and begin demolition this year, but shoppers will have to be patient. City officials say Phase 1 probably won't open until 2015.

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