On April 15, 1969, construction began on Mall 205, a 500,000 square-foot retail shopping center. It was located on the old Morningside Hospital site in SE Portland. The site was 50 acres and cost was estimated at $10 million. Store anchors were Montgomery Wards at one end and White Front at the opposite end. The developer was Lenrich Associates, a NY firm. Plans called for parking in 2 lots for 2,500 cars and retail space for 50 local shops. It was to be the first enclosed and climate controlled mall in the state. The Banfield freeway, the I-205 freeway and the future Mt Hood freeway all surrounded the mall and it's location was chosen by this logic.
WHITE FRONT AMBITION
Mall "anchors" were Montgomery Ward and White Front (a west coast discount department store). White Front was a discount retailer from California who's name came from the practice of lining up washers, dryers and stoves in front of the store thus giving the store a white front. Another practice the retailer had was a large lettered sign with fanned out letters saying "WHITE FRONT". This was to be White Front's debut store in Oregon. There were 4 WF stores under construction in Seattle at this time and plans included 2 more stores in suburban Portland with 2 more stores in Beaverton and Milwaukie. Officials from WF stated that they were not concerned with the massive amount of competition form surrounding retail appliance stores. It appears that WF had most ambitious plans for the Pacific NW. Montgomery Ward had a separate building for auto service adjacent to it. Ward's was a two-story building.
The borders of Mall 205 were: Stark St, 96th Ave, 102nd Ave and Cherry Blossom Drive.
Developer: Lenrich and Associates (New York)
General Contractor: Goodrich Construction Corp. (New York)
Architect: Victor Gruen and Associates, AIA, (Los Angeles)
Leasing Agent: FH Andrews and Associates, (Portland)
Mall 205 Time Line
1965 I-205 freeway route announced
1968 Lenrich and Assoc buy Morningside Hospital
1969 Mt Hood Freeway route approved
1969 Construction on M205 begins
1970 M205 opens
1974 White Front goes bankrupt and closes
2001 Montgomery Ward closes
2001 Home Depot and Target open
Pictured above is an aerial view of the Morningside Hospital. The buildings would be demolished in 1968. The Mall 205 shopping center would be built covering the 47-acre parcel of land.
