Ashley Landing

Ashley Landing, built in 1970, was the first indoor shopping mall built in the West Ashley area of Charleston, South Carolina. The center is located at 1401 Sam Rittenberg Boulevard at the fork of Old Towne Road . It was built as a joint venture of shopping center developers the LeFrak Organization of New York City and The Cordish Company of Baltimore, Maryland under the name Ashley Plaza Mall Associates. Ashley Plaza Mall was originally constructed in the late 1960s as a strip shopping center featuring a J.M. Fields Department Stores joined to a Pantry Pride supermarket. In 1970 the locally owned Condon's Department Store was built adjacent to Pantry Pride as a freestanding building. The center was originally known as "Ashley Plaza" and had a large red and white neon pylon "Ashley Plaza" sign in the center of the parking lot that remained until 1989 when it was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo.Expansion and mall additionIn 1971, an indoor shopping mall was created by adding on to the shopping plaza and enclosing the area between Pantry Pride and Condon's Department Store to create an indoor mall that opened in April 1972. The mall featured a number of local retailers as well as nationally known retailers and specialty shops and a dual screen General Cinemas (which was later expanded to three screens). A third department store, the locally owned Edward's, was also added at this time. With the completion of the enclosed mall came a new name, Ashley Plaza Mall.