After a two-year process to determine what to do with Richmond’s near-vacant Hilltop Mall shopping center, the property owners say the boarded-up storefronts will be demolished to make way for a “modern, mixed-use development.”
Plans are moving forward to tear down almost all of the defunct once-mighty mall and replace it with housing, shops, restaurants, entertainment outlets and parks. The Walmart store on the center’s south side is expected to remain open.
The development plans could be unveiled in the coming months, with Richmond’s mayor saying they’ll be made public this spring.
Construction crews have begun tearing up the north parking lot to make room for a 1-mile research test track for automated self-driving on-demand transit vehicles.
The city of Richmond’s Hilltop Horizon Specific Plan details its goals for a 143-acre area that includes the 77-acre Hilltop Mall as well as 19 other properties south and southeast of the center.
The area would be transitioned from a low-intensity retail center geared toward auto traffic to a higher-intensity, mixed-use destination that’s more pedestrian friendly.
The plan’s timeline calls for the Richmond City Council to hold hearings and adopt a development proposal this year.
Prologis, the San Francisco-based real estate and development company that purchased the mall property in 2021 for $117 million, has been meeting with city staff as well as neighborhood councils to craft a development plan.
“Our team has engaged with community stakeholders over the past two years about what the future of the vacant property could look like,” Prologis officials said in a statement sent to Richmondside. “Based on input from the community as well as the city, we are working to bring a modern, mixed-use development that will create jobs and contribute to Richmond’s economy.”
Prologis officials confirmed that the Walmart store will remain open under a long-term lease agreement the retail company signed with the property’s previous owner. In addition, Walmart officials told Richmondside they have no plans to close the Hilltop store.
Prologis officials added that the white Fluid Truck rental vehicles visitors may see parked near the Walmart store will remain in place under a previous lease agreement. Richmondside reached out to 24 Hour Fitness for comment but did not hear back from the company as of publication time.
City, business leaders optimistic about Hilltop Mall redevelopment
The plans by Prologis are being met with enthusiasm from Richmond city officials.
“This map will provide detailed guidance on the placement of housing, retail, parks, and other mixed-use spaces, supporting the vision to transform the area into a dynamic, sustainable community hub,” said Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez.
The mayor said he hopes the new development can also connect with nearby Hilltop Lake Park. He said that could “breathe new life into this underused Richmond asset.”
“I’d like to see the Hilltop Mall property (as a whole) reimagined with truly affordable housing and mixed-use spaces. I picture a vibrant live-work-play community anchored by distinctive landmarks visible from the freeway,” Martinez said.
Rich Doellstedt, the chair of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce board of directors, said he hopes the Hilltop development can follow the example of Bay Street Emeryville in providing housing and retail in a safe, comfortable environment.
“Housing is key,” Doellstedt said.
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“It was once God’s gift to shopping in the 1970s, but its husk now has less allure than polyester pants and the Ford Pinto.”
— James Cheshareck, local historian
As the development plans wind through the approval process, Prologis is temporarily leasing part of its site to Glydways, a San Francisco-based company that develops driverless transportation systems.
Glydways is taking over a 14-acre site on the mall’s north parking lot as it develops its on-demand transit systems. The site will also house a 13,000-square-foot maintenance and storage facility.
The track will help test vehicles for Glydways’ planned 28-mile Automated Transit Network it is developing in eastern Contra Costa County. The system consists of small zero-emissions transit vehicles that allow riders to travel directly from one destination to another without stopping.
“By building this hub in our own backyard, we’re not only advancing our systems close to home but also demonstrating our commitment to bringing efficient, zero-emission transit solutions to the Bay Area and beyond,” said Gokul Hemmady, the chief executive officer of Glydways, in a statement.
The demise of a once-flourishing shopping center
The redevelopment is the final chapter in the saga of Hilltop Mall, which once was a bustling center that attracted customers from as far away as Sacramento.
James Cheshareck, a local historian and a board member of the Point Richmond History Association, said its construction was spurred in the late 1960s by the decline of the city’s downtown area along Macdonald Avenue.
He said city leaders took action to reverse the resulting decrease in sales tax revenue by targeting 103 acres of abandoned Standard Oil land known as “Tank Farm Hill” that sat between Interstate 80 and San Pablo Avenue.
They teamed up with Taubman Centers, the developers of the Sunvalley Shopping Center in Concord, to develop a large shopping center on the unused Richmond property.
Store names such as Shoe Barn, beloved Bay Area staple Loard’s Ice Cream and Style4U are visible, their mesh security doors still shut.
Ground was broken in 1974 on the 1.2-million-square-foot retail center, which was designed to house 130 retail outlets.
J.C. Penney was the first retailer to open its doors at the new mall, doing so in August 1976. Cheshareck said about half of the 130 retail spaces were occupied then, and the others quickly filled up. The businesses included four jewelry stores, 10 shoe stores and 12 restaurants. There were also four movie theaters, a skating rink and a child-care center.
Cheshareck said the new mall created 3,000 jobs and produced $87 million in retail sales in its first year of operation. The local sales tax revenue it produced that initial year was estimated at $1 million, with Richmond schools receiving $370,000.
Capwell’s, Macy’s and Sears all took up residence in the decades that followed.
However, competition from two newer shopping centers close by as well as the advent of online shopping and the construction of the Richmond Parkway, which allowed traffic to bypass Hilltop and contributed to the shopping center’s demise.
Capwell’s, which was renamed Emporium, closed in 1996. J.C. Penney closed in 2017. Sears shut its doors in 2020,and Macy’s was boarded up in 2021.
The mall, which itself has been blamed for the further decline of Richmond’s downtown, was closed in April 2021.
“Karma struck Hilltop Mall with brute force,” Cheshareck said. “It was once God’s gift to shopping in the 1970s, but its husk now has less allure than polyester pants and the Ford Pinto.”
Now, the former home of Tank Farm Hill awaits its new future.
I’m sorry, what information is this article based on? I’d love to believe that, after so many years of statis and decay, Hilltop is finally going to get an infusion of private capital and be turned into something nice, but the only sign of progress that this article references is a vague mention that “Richmond’s mayor saying they’ll be made public this spring,” but no actual quote or document. The Hilltop Horizon website has no updates since May 2024, and the quoted statement from Prologis uses words to say nothing.
What amazes me is that Richmond got the land for free from Chevron and turned around and sold it for $117 million. And we still see no improvements in any part of the city of Richmond. I think the only thing Richmond City Representatives are good at is lining their own pockets.
This article helps, put to rest the nonsense that the city council is anti-growth, anti-jobs, etc…It will be years, ( let’s hope 2 or 3) before people get keys to their condos just as it will be at Northgate in San Rafael or south of market in San Francisco. That, most would say unfortunately, is how the system works. Still, the mayor and the city council are on top of it.
Thanks for this update. Would love to hear about what stores and shops will be included along with what type of housing development. But overall happy to hear that the project is finally moving forward!
Interested in if they’ll be adding medical services—there are not a lot of good options and a dentist and another sutter or John Muir would be much needed.
Nothing happening. This town is lame.