Bellevue Center

Bellevue Center was a regional shopping mall in the southwestern Nashville, Tennessee suburb of Bellevue. It had capacity for over 90 stores on two floors totaling. The mall itself opened in 1990, began showing signs of decline during the early 2000s recession, and closed in 2008, however two anchor tenants continued to operate beyond the mall's closing. The building was demolished in 2015.HistoryBellevue Center originally opened on August 9, 1990 with two anchors, Dillard's and Castner Knott, situated at the far ends of the trident-shaped mall. Spaces for two other anchors were included in the design. One of these (the one closest to Dillard's) was delegated for Nashville's first Macy's store, but the project was canceled and nothing was ever built on the site. Macy's eventually came to the mall in the former Castner Knott location after a series of acquisitions. Other tenants included KB Toys, Limited Too, Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap Inc., and Electronic Express.Bellevue Center's upscale offerings showed initial promise, but foot traffic at the mall began to decline soon after, with competition from the Mall at Green Hills and Cool Springs Galleria, where new locations of stores previously exclusive to Bellevue Center began to open. Sears came to Bellevue Center in 1999 (shortly after Castner Knott became Proffitt's), building a new store on the empty anchor space in the northeast corner of the mall. Despite the arrival of a third anchor, foot traffic continued to suffer, and retailers began abandoning the mall in the early 2000s. Mall space began to be filled by professional services, churches, and the instructional arts. When Dillard's eventually closed its store and sold its property to the mall's owners (Oaktree Capital Management) in 2007 following years of declining sales, drastic plans for redevelopment were announced.