It was an early project of Herbert S. Miller's
Western Development Corporation, which was
spun-off in 1994 as
The Mills Corporation. Miller assembled a deal with property owner Olga Mazza and
Neiman Marcus owner
Stanley Marcus to build the development; Olga wanted an office building named after her mother and Miller wanted a residential component, but neither were approved. A retail corridor had already been established with the opening of a freestanding
Woodward & Lothrop department store in 1950, followed by
Lord & Taylor (1959) and
Saks Fifth Avenue (1964) nearby, and a stop on the Metro
Red Line had been approved in 1973. Construction difficulties and labor disputes delayed construction of the $25 million project. The mall finally opened in November 1977, almost four years behind schedule. The anchor stores were Neiman Marcus and
Raleigh Haberdasher. The delays had contributed to vacancies, as merchants could not plan for a firm opening date, and many retailers chose to open locations instead in
White Flint Mall north of Bethesda. Traffic caused by the also-delayed construction of the Metro discouraged patrons from visiting the area. In June 1997, a group headed by Daniel McCaffery, who owned the Friendship Centre development across Wisconsin Avenue, acquired the mall for $28 million and spent a further $30 million on renovations as part of a
de-malling project that opened up the marble block exterior with new windows, and added better lighting and additional entrances. The project was financed by Security Capital Group, which was acquired by
General Electric in 2001. Among the added venues were a
General Cinemas theatre and a restaurant, The R Room, owned by General Cinemas but operated by the restaurant division of Neiman Marcus. It closed in December 2000. Another restaurant, Rock Creek, operated in the restaurant space from 2007 to 2009. In June 2004,
Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) acquired the mall from
General Electric for $77 million.
Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation, led by
Ben Ashkenazy, acquired the mall from TIAA for $78 million in January 2017. and
Annaly Capital Management acquired the property via foreclosure. In February 2021, the closing of the
AMC Theatres was announced.
Tishman Speyer acquired the property in May 2021 for $52 million with plans to redevelop it into 350 apartments and of retail space. The last retail business in the mall,
TJ Maxx, and the mall itself permanently closed on December 24, 2022. The mall was demolished in March 2023, retaining the 4 stories of underground parking. A new 6-story complex, named Mazza, was constructed at the site, In August 2025, TJ Maxx became the first retailer to open in the new structure. ==Gallery: Construction of new Mazza Gallerie, 2024==