In early 1956, three officials from Northgate Shopping Center, James Douglas, president of Northgate Co., Wells McCurdy, Douglas' assistant, and Rex Allison, the vice president of Allied Department Stores formed the Southcenter Corporation as a subsidiary of Allied. Their goal was to eventually build a large shopping center south of downtown Seattle that would match the success of their own Northgate and began searching for a site, preferably with at least 100 acres. The site chosen was part of what was known as the Andover Tract, an area of former pasture land being developed by the Port of Seattle for industrial use. In anticipation of the developments, the entire area was annexed by the city of Tukwila in November 1957. Southcenter Corp. purchased strategically at what would eventually be the intersection of two major freeways, The Seattle - Tacoma Freeway and I-405. The construction schedule of the mall would depend on the construction of the freeways. Excavation at the site began in early 1967 and construction on the $30 million shopping center began in the summer of 1967. John Graham & Company, a Seattle firm that also designed the original Northgate and Tacoma Malls, was announced as the architect for the project. Even with four labor strikes slowing work down, construction was largely completed on the structure by May 1968. Work on the interior continued until the day before opening on July 31. In total, 25 main contractors and 50 subcontractors helped build the mall. The concrete terrazzo floors of the mall were said to be the largest in area in all of Puget Sound and were a last minute addition to the mall. Needed to make the cement like mixture for the floors were 500 cubic yards of sand, 3,000 100-pound sacks of gray cement, 3,000 100-pound sacks of white cement and 5,000 100-pound sacks of brown marble chips. of zinc divider strips were used for the floors. The grand opening was held on July 31, 1968, at 11 a.m. with Washington State Governor Dan Evans as the key speaker. At with 92 stores employing 3,600 people, it was the largest shopping mall in the region.
Westfield: 2002–2006
In early 2002, the mall was purchased by the Westfield Group. At that time it was renamed "Westfield Southcenter". On May 11, 2006, Westfield broke ground on a $240 million expansion. that was to add
2010-present
On July 22, 2010, Seafood City opened in the former Mervyn's space. In 2014, The Container Store opened in the former Borders Books space. In the same year, the Westfield Group split its assets, with malls in North America and Europe being moved into the Westfield Corporation. In 2015, it was announced that the Rainforest Cafe will be closing in January 2016 and it is replaced by a Chinese restaurantDin Tai Fung opening on April 21, 2017. In December 2017, Westfield Corporation was purchased by the European shopping center giant Unibail-Rodamco. The company took on the name Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, while its properties in North America and Europe were unified under the Westfield brand.
