This article is about the shopping mall in Olympia, Washington. For the mall in Jefferson City, Missouri, see Capital Mall (Missouri). For the landscaped parks in California and Washington, D.C., respectively, see Capitol Mall and National Mall.
Capital Mall opened on October 5, 1978 and was developed by The Hahn Company.[2] A 1978 article in The Spokesman-Review stated that Capital Mall was an integral factor in development of the city of Olympia. Concurrently with the mall, a number of retail developments and fast-food restaurants were also built around the mall.[3] Construction of the mall required the city of Olympia to spend $3 million on road and traffic improvements, as the mall's development was predicted to more than triple the amount of traffic in the area.[4]
On August 18, 1991, a fire broke out on the mall's roof, causing over $3 million in damage.[6]
Frederick & Nelson was sold to Mervyns in 1992.[7]
The mall was acquired in 1998 by Westfield America, Inc., a precursor of the Westfield Group, which renamed it "Westfield Shoppingtown Capital", dropping the "Shoppingtown" from the name in 2005.
Upon acquisition by Westfield, it underwent a $50 million expansion and renovation. One facet of the expansion opened in 2002, when the vacated Lamonts store was replaced by a Best Buy and a food court.[8]
Mervyns closed its 99,924 sq ft (9,283.2 m2) store on December 31, 2006 and the space has since been divided into smaller sections: Forever 21 opened in August 2010, REI opened in May 2011, and Total Wine & More opened July 2013. Forever 21 closed for good in September 2018.[9]
In October 2013, Westfield sold a controlling interest in several malls in the United States to Starwood Retail Partners, which included Capital Mall In 2013, for 1.6 billion.[1][10]
