The mall opened in March 1968 with three anchor stores and 58 smaller shops. It was built as a
joint venture between
The May Department Stores Company and Strouse, Greenberg & Co., based on the design of
John Graham, Jr. and Ward and Hall. A mid-1970s expansion added a ,
Woodward & Lothrop store and of additional retail space for 40 stores. On March 1,1976, longtime fugitive
William Bradford Bishop bought a
ball peen hammer and gas can at the mall to allegedly kill and burn his family. A renovation completed in October 1991 replaced the floors, added brass railings and a glass elevator (the latter removed in 2013), and removed all the fountains to allow for more kiosk and seating space. The grand re-opening featured a concert by
Tony Bennett. An expansion wing featured the first
Nordstrom in Maryland and the third in the
Washington, D.C.metropolitan area, and
Crate & Barrel. The Boulevard Cafes food court is located on the second level. After the 2005 acquisition of
May Department Stores by
Federated Department Stores, the Hecht’s at Montgomery was renamed Macy’s in 2006. On May 1, 2016, the Montgomery Mall had a new transit center opening, replacing the old transit center.
Expansion A plan to expand the mall by was approved by Montgomery County in September 2007. With the expansion, Westfield Montgomery has more than , the fourth-largest mall in the Washington area behind
Tysons Corner Center,
Westfield Wheaton, and
Fair Oaks Mall. In 2014, a 16-screen
Arclight Cinemas opened at the mall. It closed in April 2021 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic; in February 2022,
AMC Theatres acquired the lease to the cinema and announced that it would reopen the following month. In June 2018, Westfield announced Sears would close and transform into additional stores and an open-air mixed-use center. Redevelopment of the former Sears building is currently ongoing with demolition set to start on the former Sears building in 2026.
2016 shooting On May 6, 2016, former federal police officer Eulalio Tordil shot three people in the parking lot. One victim died. ==References==