The Tanforan site has been a
racetrack,
airfield, a military training center, a
Japanese American internment camp, a
golf course, and a retail complex.
Racetrack The
Tanforan Racetrack was built in 1899. It was named after Toribio Tanforan, the grandson-in-law of Jose Antonio Sanchez, the grantee of
Rancho Buri Buri; the name was shortened to Tanforan. The Western Turf Association acquired of land and began construction of the grandstand by September 1899, which was estimated to cost and scheduled to open in time for the season in November. Approximately 700 men were required to complete the track, and by late September, paving work had begun for the road servicing the new track, requiring of gravel.
Horse,
dog,
motorcycle, and
auto races were held year-round at the track. A noteworthy resident during its use as a racetrack was
Seabiscuit, who was stabled there for a time. A statue of
Seabiscuit can still be found on the grounds. The site was repurposed after 1909 when the state of California banned all gambling at racetracks. Races were held at Tanforan until the racetrack was destroyed by fire on July 31, 1964.
Airfield Tanforan Racetrack was occasionally used as an airfield, with the center of the racetrack used as a runway. On January 25–26, 1910, the Tanforan Racetrack served as the site for the Second International Air Meet in America, organized by the Pacific Aero Club and attended by aviation notables
Louis Paulhan and
John J. Montgomery. On January 18, 1911, aviator
Eugene Ely made naval aviation history when he took off from Tanforan and made a successful landing on the
USS Pennsylvania anchored in
San Francisco Bay. This marked the first successful shipboard aircraft landing (and the second successful take-off). A plaque on the grounds commemorates this event. Tanforan was temporarily converted into a military training center during
World War I.
Tanforan Assembly Center During
World War II, Tanforan was used as the
Tanforan Assembly Center, an
internment camp for Japanese Americans, nearly all from the
San Francisco Bay Area. Tanforan was the second most populous of the 17 "civilian assembly centers" where internees were detained before being relocated to more permanent (and remote) "relocation centers;" most internees at Tanforan were sent to the
Topaz War Relocation Center near
Delta, Utah. Twenty-six of the 180 "apartment" barracks were converted from horse stalls. 8,003 people were held at Tanforan from April 28 to October 13, 1942, with a peak population of 7,816 in July. A plaque outside the mall notes this history. When the Assembly Center closed in 1942 the site became the
US Army's
Camp Tanforan. At the camp were the California Field Artillery Regiments. In 1944, the camp became the
Naval Advance Base Personnel Depot, San Bruno, which closed on October 10, 1946. A number of soldiers who were once stationed at camp are buried at the
Golden Gate National Cemetery, which is located on a nearby hill that overlooks the Tanforan site. After the war, Tanforan returned to its former role as a race track, with a
golf course in the center of the track. The track went into decline in the 1950s due to competition from
Bay Meadows, and burned down on July 31, 1964. Under the First Phase, the central mall and Sears store were scheduled for completion by February 1971. The mall was developed by The Hapsmith Company, led by Hap Smith and
Frederick M. Nicholas, and built by
Ernest W. Hahn, Inc. The two major anchor tenants in the First Phase were Sears with and
J.C. Penney with . The first phase also included of leasable area with space for 65 stores. The planned second phase would expand leasable area to with space for more than 100 stores. The Tire, Brake, and Accessory Section of
Sears was the first store to open at Tanforan, on October 7, 1970. The mall is bounded by
El Camino Real (to the west), Sneath Lane (north), Huntington Avenue (east), and Interstate 380 (south). Property ownership was split between Sears, which owned the northern portion of the site; Hapsmith, which owned the central ; and
JC Penney, the southern . The Sears building was ; the Emporium (later replaced by Target) building was , and the JC Penney building was . By that time, the dated mall was perceived as "dark and ugly" and occupancy had fallen to less than half, although anchor tenants continued to perform well. moving out long-term tenants, existing building materials, and other city issues. It would be four years before the project's operations were ready to begin. After resolving a string of legal, construction, and administrative issues, renovations finally began in 2003. The existing stores were closed and the structure was gutted, retaining only the exterior walls, with the exception of the three main anchors (Target, Sears, and J.C. Penney), all of which remained open throughout the major reconstruction. A groundbreaking ceremony for the reconstruction was held on February 9, 2004. BART's new station opened in 2003 on what was part of the original mall's property; in 2001, the four property owners received $34 million as a settlement from the eminent domain proceedings of BART, which was used to fund the three-level parking structure. The US$140 million project was completed after 20 months. On October 7, 2005, the mall reopened as The Shops at Tanforan, adding of shops and restaurants, including a new main entrance (facing
El Camino Real) and food court. As reconstructed, the mall portion was , a expansion compared to the structure as completed in 1971. A two-level
Barnes & Noble bookstore and a
BJ's Chicago Brewhouse flank the new glass atrium entrance facing El Camino. On April 18, 2008,
Century Theatres held its grand opening for a new 20-screen theater complex at this location, with a
skybridge connecting the mall to the new building. The bottom floor of the garage also serves as a walkway to both a new substation of the San Bruno Police Department and the adjoining
San Bruno BART station.
Decline In 2015,
Sears Holdings spun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at The Shops at Tanforan, into Seritage Growth Properties. The mall property was sold by Breevast to
Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), an Australian investment firm, in August of that year for $174 million. The property's Sears store was sold to mall ownership in 2018. The store later closed in early 2020. It was later sold to Alexandria Real Estate in late 2021 for $128 million. Shifting of consumer shopping practices online due to the
retail apocalypse, alongside the
COVID-19 pandemic in California, caused a decline in the mall's foot traffic. On July 2, 2019, a shooting occurred on the upper level of the food court; as a precaution, the mall and nearby
BART station were evacuated. Four people were injured during the shooting, which left some reluctant to return to the mall. Four teenagers were arrested in connection with the shooting. Later that year, retailer
Forever 21 went bankrupt and announced plans to close the company's San Bruno location at Tanforan. As part of
JCPenney's 2020 bankruptcy process, the company's store in San Bruno was sold to Alexandria Real Estate for $105 million. The store closed on May 25, 2025, leaving Century Theatres and Target the two remaining anchors.
Closure On July 27, 2021, the San Bruno City Council adopted the
Reimagining Tanforan Land Use Fact Sheet, encouraging potential land owners to explore non-retail options at the site, including office, residential, and hotel uses. In February 2022, Alexandria announced it had purchased the remaining central portion of the mall property from QIC, including the mall's
Target store, and confirmed it would transform the property into a "mega campus" for biotech and technology firms. For the time being, car dealerships have opened up in the former Sears. Hyundai of San Bruno and Genesis of San Bruno have opened. == Gallery ==