A Tribute, to the Worcester Galleria/Common Outlets Mall (1971-2010)

[bfs1888]

very, very well done. I have alot of memories there, since 1974. People lived for that mall on the weekends. too bad city planners can't get their shit together to do anything right in Worcester. Could start with expensive housing , and a place to SHOP

[georgef551]

@bfs1888

People stopped going there because of the trouble kids caused, and the lack of security, including all thopse winding halls that anything could happen, vandalism and drug use in the garage, especially the elevators.

YES, if planned out better, this could've worked out. There was a lot of wasted space, which could've allowed a better connection to downtown, and be a lot safer.

To think, when you saw this mall, and Union Station, you'd never think which was to be demolished. :)

[elevatorsonly]

Demolition started -- I just checked the City Square site, and it started in May!

[georgef551]

@elevatorsonly

I just was there, rain and all, and got some footage.

"Red#1" is no more.

[elevatorsonly]

@georgef551 Oh, I almost went to a hospital to watch my great grandfather today, also to get elevators, but someone saved the heavy rain walk - my aunt. That would have been torrential!

[georgef551]

@elevatorsonly

It was raining at a decent clip when I recorded the demo, but not torrential. It got that way about 10 mainutes after I left Worcester.

[elevatorsonly]

They started demolishing the mall on 9/13/10.

[georgef551]

@elevatorsonly

Funny, because I was there with Balarick on 9/14/10. They DID start, but it makes sense as to why so little got done when we were there.

I still wonder why they blew a hole in the side of the garage they are keeping. I guess we'll find out next time around.

[elevatorsonly]

@georgef551 SEPTEMBER 14? That was my 2 yr YT anniversary!

[georgef551]

@elevatorsonly

Happy Belated Anniversary!

[elevatorsonly]

My mom went here a few times before it closed. If she could videotape here and she knew about Dieselducy, then she could have recorded the elevators and I could upload them and you could have put it in this video.

[georgef551]

@elevatorsonly

I missed being able to get in by 6 months, I believe (was still open to walkers, I believe).

I was here in 2000, when the Outlets were a year old, and it was DEAD. I was literally one of THREE people shopping!

If I knew this hobby existed back in the day, I would've got video before it completely closed in 2006. (Many elevators, glass one included, were pitted for demolition.)

[paul28fo]

I'm so sad to see this mall destroyed as i have many wonderful memories coming here all through the seventies with my mother and sister and all through the 80's in my twenties Christmas shopping, all the hustle and bustle. Good times.

Thank's for this tribute. (i wish someone could film inside before it's gone)

[georgef551]

@paul28fo

The hallway, and the Freighter, were the only inside-the-mall videos I know of here on YouTube. I wish I did get in. Found out I was 3 months shy of actual access, when I recorded here the first time. It was closed off completely about March 2010.

I had memories here as well, I got my longest and highest score on Star Wars here (Dream Machine). I used to joy-ride the Glass Elevator, and we'd scam the Centrum out of money, to save on parking fees at the garage. :)

[georgef551]

@paul28fo

CORRECTION:

It was March 2009 it was completely shut off.

[pnwelevator]

So which half of the red/blue parking deck is being saved? Red or Blue?

[georgef551]

@pnwelevator

The Blue Section will be saved, although it'll now be known as the "East Garage".

The Yellow Section is now the "West Garage".

(If you've seen all the yellow videos, the first one had all yellow signage. Second video had the elevator signage painted Dark Blue, stairways, not shown, were still yellow. Last video all was Dark Blue. Anyway, in terms of the "Blue Section", not sure if the elevator will be saved, replaced, or completely ripped out, and rel\ocated.

[NEXPAR]

Perfect music for a once thriving but now lonely mall condemned to destruction. So there goes your glass elevator. At least Infamous Death Trap will be immortalized forever in the news footage you made with the Chronicle. So the Blue Elevator will remain?

If you look up Eastmont Mall in Oakland you can see a dead mall that has taken on an entirely new life.

[georgef551]

@NEXPAR

I don't THINK any of the old MPE's, or mechanicals, on that side, will remain. Every drawing of the finished product shows that side being clear of anything, so I guess there's a sidewalk to go there. Not sure. I think there will be new ones in a rebuilt entry, as well as a new MPE or two. Got to wait, and see. If they were to remain, Blue might, or be replaced, and the Death Trap is unlikely. I DO Know "Red#1" will be gone, period.

DINNNG-DING! CAA, CHUNK-CHUNK! Will miss that.

[elevatorsonly]

@georgef551 I believe Blue will be replaced, because it breaks down so often, you only rode it with Chronicle.

[georgef551]

@elevatorsonly

I have that feeling as well, or it'll be modernized, and the systems done completely over.

Future images show no MPE's, or elevators on the back wall, so who knows where anything will be, before the "East Garage", as it's now known as, will have?

[elevatorsonly]

@georgef551 I think the lifts will be identical to the West Garage has.

[georgef551]

@elevatorsonly

Maybe, since City Square changed hands again, who knows who the contract goes to?

They might even rip them out altogether, and have something new installed, whether in the same shafts, or elsewhere. Would be neat to see when it's time, but sad to see them go, if they do go away.

[elevatorsonly]

@georgef551 I was saying they would rip out Mr. None-Except-1-Ride Blue and replace them with a bank of 2 TOTALLY identical to the West Garage.

[georgef551]

@elevatorsonly

We'll see when they get done. Old before/after images show no shafts or MPE's where they currently are, so you could be very right. It's to be flanked by buildings on both sides, so they could incorporate new MPE's and elevators in one, or both, of them.

[TheElevatorChannel]

Yet another shopping center fails... At least it didn't end up abandoned like the famous Dixie Square Mall. Things like that always end up being crime magnets.

[georgef551]

@TheElevatorChannel

It completely failed in 2006, although I found out if I shot my first videos there 3 months earlier, I could've captured video in the mall itself. :(

I used to know "The Catacombs" pretty well. As a family, we used the one pictured in this video, to go into Filene's.

The reasons the whole thing failed were the development of nearby malls, then the huge outlets in Wrentham. While in decline, this was a spot for derelicts to cause trouble. (Never seen any.)

[TheElevatorChannel]

@georgef551 The St. Louis Center mall is a bit of a similar story. It mostly failed because of competition with the St. Louis Galleria (ironic how it shares a name with this one). Of course, another major factor was the decline of downtown shopping. Now, it's being converted (not demolished) into a parking garage, with shopping on the street level. The gigantic 12 story Macy's which was attached via a sky bridge has closed all but 3 floors of the store.

[georgef551]

@TheElevatorChannel

On the plus sidse, when it's all done, and mostly occupied (they have 50% of the tenants lined up), there should be more elevators to ride, granted they won't be old, make tons of odd (and loud) noises, but City Square promises to be fun.

Ironic that they are trying to make it a shopping destination, when they had a perfectly good mall, but there is better traffic flow, which this mall, and it's record-breaking garage, took away.

Will still miss it.