From urban revival to arena dreams
In the early 1990s, Sacramento set out to reinvent its downtown core—and at the center of that vision was Downtown Plaza, a massive open-air shopping mall designed to bring energy back to the K Street corridor. Opening in 1993, this ambitious project was developed by Ernest Hahn, the same mind behind San Diego’s successful Horton Plaza.
With 1.2 million square feet of retail space, Downtown Plaza was a bold fusion of urban retail, modern architecture, and destination design.
The peak of Downtown Plaza
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| View of the Downtown Plaza sign when it was owned by Westfield. |
At its height, Downtown Plaza was home to major national retailers and the largest Macy’s in the Sacramento region—with separate buildings for Men’s and Furniture departments. Its central architectural showpiece was a futuristic steel-framed rotunda, which hosted laser light shows that lit up the skyline and added a theatrical flair to downtown nights.
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| Downtown Plaza’s central open-air design was visually striking, but not always retail-friendly. |
The slow decline
Despite its grand scale, Downtown Plaza began to lose its footing in the 2000s. Major tenants like Banana Republic and FAO Schwarz left, and the eastern wing of the mall fell into near-total vacancy. The western corridor near Macy’s still drew some foot traffic, but many storefronts sat empty or shuttered.
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| Remnants of 1979 retail charm linger in an enclosed corridor north of the Rotunda. Note the fancy woodwork on the ceiling. |
The mall’s design, once its biggest draw, became part of its downfall. Deep shadows from its steel framing and overhangs made storefronts hard to see—hurting impulse shopping. Meanwhile, portions of the mall that remained enclosed felt dated, with untouched decor and sealed-off second stories.
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| 2006 directory of Westfield Downtown Plaza in Sacramento, showcasing the mall’s layout during its final years before redevelopment into Downtown Commons (DOCO). |
Downtown Plaza also lacked a clear identity: was it meant to be a regional shopping hub or a quirky downtown experience like San Francisco’s Pier 39? With little nearby residential growth and inconsistent visitor interest, it ultimately became neither.
Demolition and reinvention
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| This towering antenna sculpture became an unofficial landmark within Downtown Plaza’s rotunda court. |
By 2014, most of Downtown Plaza had closed. Demolition began to make way for the Golden 1 Center, home to the Sacramento Kings. While a few nearby structures were spared, the rest of the mall was removed—marking the end of a two-decade experiment in downtown retail revitalization.
Downtown Plaza was more than a mall. It was a bold attempt to reimagine Sacramento’s downtown—part shopping center, part urban sculpture, part cautionary tale. Though it’s now gone, its memory lives on in the streetscape it once helped define.
Related posts
- Lost malls: Florin Mall in Sacramento (1968‑2006)
- The history of Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights — shopping icon since 1972
- Lost department stores of the West: Weinstock’s (1874—1996)
- The history of Macy's in Sacramento and the Central Valley
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