Santa Monica Place

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Santa Monica Place is an outdoor shopping mall in Santa Monica, California. It sits at the south end of the Third Street Promenade, about two blocks from the beach and the Santa Monica Pier. The mall has three levels.

What it’s like today
- The mall is mainly upscale, with shops like Tiffany & Co., Louis Vuitton, Tory Burch, Elie Tahari, and AllSaints. It also has dining options and, above a Bloomingdale’s store, a film theater that later closed.
- The entire structure was redesigned in 2010 to be an outdoor mall after a big renovation. Stores and restaurants now fill two retail levels plus a third-level food court.

Brief history
- Santa Monica Place opened in 1980 as an indoor mall, developed by The Rouse Company and The Hahn Company. It was designed by Frank Gehry and originally had J. W. Robinson’s and The Broadway as anchors.
- In the 1990s, anchors changed names: Robinson’s became Robinsons-May and The Broadway became Macy’s. Macerich bought the mall in 1999.
- A major redevelopment began in 2007, removing the roof and creating an outdoor, three-level center. Macy’s became Bloomingdale’s, and a Nordstrom took the retail space that replaced Steve & Barry’s.
- The renovated mall reopened on August 6, 2010. In 2015, ArcLight Cinemas opened above Bloomingdale’s, offering movie options for shoppers.
- Bloomingdale’s announced closing in early 2021, and ArcLight’s lease ended in 2021 after the theater stopped operating during the pandemic.

Recent changes and what’s next
- In 2023, it was announced that the Bloomingdale’s–ArcLight building would be redeveloped as Arte Museum, an immersive digital media destination. The remaining space in that building might later house a high-end fitness facility.
- In April 2025 Prism Places bought Santa Monica Place from Macerich. In August 2025 Nordstrom closed, leaving no traditional anchor stores at the mall.
- The site is still well connected to transit: the Downtown Santa Monica station of the LA Metro E Line sits across the street, and Santa Monica Big Blue Bus routes service the mall.

Size and location
- Santa Monica Place covers about 475,000 square feet and has three floors. It remains at the southern end of the Third Street Promenade, near the beach.