The Westfield Mall Palm Desert, along with all of Westfield’s properties, has a new owner in European company Unibail-Rodamco as part of a buyout that happened this week. While there probably won’t be any immediate changes to the Coachella Valley’s biggest mall, according to the Desert Sun, it sure sounds like the city of Palm Desert would like there to be.
“If Westfield is interested in redesigning, we are hearing and seeing what other malls are doing and are hoping to get some entertainment uses at the mall,” said Martin Alvarez, Palm Desert economic development director. “We would love to see some additional restaurants and perhaps some additional opportunities to bring density to the site such as residential apartments or condos or a hotel.”
Alvarez said the area around Westfield mall and El Paseo is the core of the city, and anything that would bring more activity to that area would drive additional sales. Over the years the mall, which opened in 1982, has undergone numerous changes.
“Malls are being reinvented nowadays to be more than just retail centers,” Alvarez said. “You start seeing the trends of gyms and restaurants visible to the public. We would like to see more of that in the future.”
Basically, the Westfield Palm Desert mall and, let’s face it, most malls, just suck these days. You know it, I know it, and the city of Palm Desert (who usually takes a long time to realize these things) knows it. Something needs to be done at the mall and soon as currently it’s just a place you park at to go to Stuft Pizza or for old people go to walk in the morning.
So what should they do? A hotel or apartments? More restaurants? Different types of stores? Live music? Food trucks? Food festivals? Get rid of the evil hologram? A ban on all those dudes asking if you want a massage?
Let’s discuss in the comments.
