Situated on a 37.6 Acre tract, the development opened in 1961, as the 4 th Phoenix mall, built upon land leased by heirs of the Mars Candy Co., with 246,600 leasable Sq. Ft. In 1963, a two-level, 126,300 Sq. Ft. Rhodes Brothers was added to the development. This expansion brought the total leasable space up to 372,900 Sq. Ft.
Westcor acquired SEARS-RHODES CENTER in the mid-1970s and performed a large-scale renovation. The complex was fully-enclosed to form an indoor mall, a parking garage built on the west end, and a two-level anchor tenant βbig boxβ added toward the southwest end. The lower level, encompassing 71,200 square feet, was leased to Marshalls; the upper level housed a 71,200 square foot Mervyns. The refurbished shopping center, re-christened COLONNADE MALL, was completed in 1976 and comprised 515,400 leasable square feet. In 1988, COLONNADE MALL became Phoenix's third "freeway friendly" shopping mall with the completion of the first segment of the Squaw Peak Parkway, renamed to Piestewa Freeway in 2003, which bisected the COLONNADE MALL site. Unfortunately, the new freeway access did not increase business at the, by then, ailing shopping venue. The owners toyed with the idea of reinventing the center as an enlarged, fully-enclosed mall, but settled on a plan to de-mall the complex in 1993. The vacant Sears, with its Auto Center torn down, was divided into a Best Buy, Old Navy, PetSmart and eight smaller retail spaces. Half of the interior mall was demolished, with the remaining section being re-tenanted by big box stores such as Bed, Bath and Beyond and Michaels. The enclosed Mervyn's wing, and the accompanying anchor store, were also retained, as was the Staples / Marshalls. A 1-level (59,800 square foot) Fry's supermarket was built to the southeast. The new, predominantly open-air complex, known as CAMELBACK COLONNADE, was completed in 1994. In the following year, Nordstrom Last Chance (a clearance store) moved from MARYVALE MALL into the basement-Ground Level space beneath Mervyns.
Today, the shopping venue comprises 624,100 leasable square feet. Its retail roster features fifty stores and services. The Mervyns space, vacated in early 2009, remains open and available for leasing.
Space included two common areas (one shown in 2 nd photo) for community events such as concerts.